Nairobi - A grown lioness who baffled experts in Kenya last month by adopting a baby oryx - a kind of antelope Africa's top predator usually likes to eat - has astounded them again by adopting another one on Valentine's Day.
Game wardens at Samburu National Park said on Saturday they had found the lioness with another new-born oryx, giving it affection and protection from other predators prowling around in the hope of an easy meal.
"She adopted the oryx the day before yesterday," warden Mark Lenyakopir told reporters. "She is still there with the calf, and the calf is doing well.
"There are other lions trying to attack the lioness to get to the baby, but the rangers are protecting them and the lioness is protecting the calf."
Bizarrely, the lioness allowed the oryx's real mother to come and feed her calf on Friday, before chasing her away again.
It is the second time she has defied nature and struck a strange bond with an oryx. In January, she protected an adopted oryx for two weeks before a hungry male lion with a strictly traditional diet seized the baby while its "mother" was napping.
According to the Daily Nation newspaper, the lioness has been following herds of oryx ever since.
"She never kills them," chief warden at Samburu Simon Leirana told the paper. "Instead when she is hungry she goes after antelopes and warthogs."
The lioness, who on Saturday was resting with the oryx under the shade of an acacia tree, has stopped hunting since adopting the baby on Thursday, and there are concerns the oryx could die from hunger if it is not fed soon.
"We cannot attempt to feed the calf since the lioness is keeping a very close watch," Leirana said. "It is walking along with the lioness, but this is likely to change as it gets weaker."
All wardens have orders to keep away other lionesses in the pride, and particularly the male that made a meal of the first adopted oryx. - Reuters