A heartwarming and then tragic experience watching the entire circle of life of a newborn springbok over a couple of hours. The mother, with the calf halfway out, was harassed for a long time by a few males trying to mount her ceaselessly so that she could not leave the herd on her own to give birth. Eventually she walked off after some time (we thought the baby had no chance at this stage), and gave birth in the mid morning heat in an exposed sandy area. She licked the calf and we were amazed that it was alive and well. However, the rest of the herd approached, and immediately a couple of males began hounding the mother again and pushing and kicking the calf (it looked like in an attempt to mount it too). Mother and calf were separated for some time, where the little one managed to stand up and called to its mother a few times. However both mother and calf were continually harassed by the two males, and the mother was not able to reach her calf. The calf, seeming to pant heavily in the heat, appeared to suffer two seizures and passed away. Heartbreaking. We wondered if this was normal behaviour? It seemed as if the smell was driving the males to harass both mother and calf?
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 12:38:43 +0000
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