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By Aline Alexander Newman
Photograph by Evan Schiller
It's early morning in Botswana's Selinda Reserve in Africa. A troop of chacma baboons stop scampering about on grassy plain and suddenly starts screaming. The racket alerts wildlife photographers Lisa Holzwarth and Evan Schiller. They drive over see what causing the commotion and end up observing one of the most amazing lion and baboon encounters ever seen in the wild.
BABY BABOON IN TROUBLE
"Four female lions have 25 or 30 boons pinned up in a tall, leafy tree," Schiller says. "The baboon are screaming, and the lions are clawing the bottom of the tree and roaring. “Lions usually don’t climb trees, so the baboon should be safe. But three of the panic and try to run to another tree. A lions pounces and kills one of them. But the big cat doesn’t eat her catch. She’s distracted by a live baby that drops off the dead baboon and take off running. “It’s crying and screeching,” Holzwarth says. “I don’t desperately want it to make it up the tree, but the youngster doesn’t have the agility and speed to do it.”
PLAYFUL LIONESS
The 300-pound cat could kill the 2-pound baby with one bite. “But she doesn’t,” Schiller says. Instead she turns oddly curios… even playful. She touches the baby with one paw and chases it around the tree. The lioness watches as the baby baboon tries to climb to safety. But every time. Before it gets very high, she pulls it back down. The baby baboon even hits the lion one her nose, but it’s getting tired and can’t escape the big cat’s reach.
MOM SUBSTITUTE
When this game ends, the lioness picks up the baby and lies down. The little baboon finds it self lodged between the lion’s two front legs. To the photographers’ astonishment, the tiny creature now try to nurse. He gets no milk and isn’t even sucking at the right spot. But the lioness doesn’t object.
DARING RESCUE
At the same time, an adult male baboon repeatedly tries to rescue the infant. Again and again he runs down the tree shrieking and pounding on the trunk, trying to make lioness forget the baby and chase him instead. But nothing works.
Tho large male lions arrive one the scene. Ignoring the baboon, they begin pestering the female lions. The lionesses aren’t interested in the lions, and in order to drive them away, the lioness leaves the baby baboon un attended.
The adult baboon seize his chance.
Silently he sneaks down the tree and hides behind a bush. Without taking his eyes of the lions, he reaches out his hand and snatches the baby. Hripping him tightly, the brave baboon races back up the tree, sits, and cuddles the infant close to his chest.
ADVENTURE’S END
Two and a half hours have passed, and the sun is beating down. The baby baboon is safe in his protector’s arms. The lions wander off in search of shade. The photographers are baffled. Why did that lioness act as she did? Nobody knows for sure. “Sometimes a lioness without cubs adopts the baby of its prey, treating it as it own,” says Paul Funston of Panthera, a wild cats conservation organization. So maybe, like many humans, the lioness simply had soft spot for babies.
Translation - Indonesian GENCATAN SENJATA SEPULUH MENIT
Seekor singa betina mengasuh bayi babun yang tidak berdaya.
OLEH ALINE ALEXANDER NEWMAN
FOTO OLEH EVAN SCHILER
SUATU PAGI di Reservasi (perlindungan) Selinda di Botswana, Afrika. Sepasukan babun (kera besar) berhenti berlari di daratan rumput dan tiba-tiba menjerit. Keributan itu membuat fotografer Evan Schiller dan Lisa Holzwarth siap-siap. Mereka menuju lokasi untuk mengetahui penyebab keributan dan di sana mereka melihat kejadian luar biasa hubungan antara singa dan babun di alam liar.
BAYI BAUN DALAM BAHAYA
“Empat singa betina biasanya mengincar 25 atau 30 babun yang menempel di pohon tinggi dan rindang,” ujar Schiller. “Para babun menjerit, dan singa-singa mengaum dan mencakar bawah pohon.” Karena singa tidak bisa naik pohon, para babun akan aman. Tapi tiga babun panik dan mencoba pindah ke pohon lain. Singa menerkam dan membunuh salah satu dari mereka. Tapi kucing besar itu tidak memakan mangsanya. Perhatiannya tertuju pada bayi yang terjatuh dari babun yang tewas. “Bayi babun itu menjerit dan melengking,” kata Holzwarth. “Aku sangat ingin melihat dia bisa naik lagi ke pohon, tapi babun muda itu tidak cepat dan lincah untuk melakukannya.”
SINGA BETINA SUKA BERCANDA
Singa seberat 130 kg bisa membunuh bayi babun 1 kg dengan satu gigitan. Tapi singa betina ini tidak melakukannya,” kata Schiller. Dia malah terlihat penasaran … bahkan mulai bercanda dengan bayi babun. Dia menyentuh bayi dengan satu cakar dan mengejarnya mengelilingi pohon. Singa betina memperhatikan ketika bayi berusaha menaiki pohon biar aman. Tapi setiap kali mencapai ketinggian tertentu, singa betina menariknya ke bawah. Bayi babun juga memukul hidung singa betina, tapi dia akhirnya capek dan tidak bisa kabur dari si kucing besar itu.
PENGGANTI IBU
Ketika permainan berakhir, singa betina membaringkan bayi baun. Babun kecil itu terperangkap di antara dua kaki depan singa. Yang membuat fotografer heran, bayi babun berusaha menyusui. Tidak ada susu dan dia bahkan menyedot di tempat yang salah. Tapi sang singa betina tidak masalah sama sekali.
PENYELAMATAN BERANI
Di saat yang bersamaan, babun dewasa berkali-kali berusaha menyelamatkan babun yang baru lahir itu. Berkali-kali dia berlari ke bawah menjerit dan memukul-mukul batang pohon, berusaha menarik perhatian singa agar mengejarnya dan melupakan bayi babun. Tapi tidak berhasil.
Dua singa jantan besar datang ke lokasi. Mereka mengabaikan para babun dan menganggu singa betina. Singa betina tidak tertarik, dan ketika berusaha mengusir mereka, singa betina membiarkan bayi babun sendirian.
Babun dewasa melihat ada kesempatan.
Diam-dima dia menyelinap ke bawah pohon dan bersembunyi di semak-semak. Sambil terus memperhatikan sang singa, dia menjulurkan tanganya dan meraih bayi babun. Sambil mencengkeramnya dengan erat, babun berani itu cepat naik ke pohon, duduk, dan memeluk erat bayi babun di dadanya.
PETUALANGAN BERAKHIR
Dua setengah jam berlalu, dan matahari bersinar terik. Bayi babun sudah aman dalam perlindungan. Singa berkeliaran mencari-cari. Para fotografer masih tercengang. Kenapa singa betina betingkah seperti itu? Tidak ada yang tahu. “Terkadang singa betina yang tidak memiliki anak mengadopsi bayi mangsanya, memperlakukannya seperti anaknya,” ujar Paul Funston dari Panthera, organisasi perlindungan kucing liar. Mungkin, seperti manusia, singa betina sangat perhatian pada bayi.
I am Karto Saragih. Live in Indonesia. I am experience almost 20 years as a journalist, translating, proof reading. Mostly about sport, toys, games, and other kids activities. Below is my personal competent.
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• Ability to write creative and interesting articles.
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• Research skills.
• Proficient in all MS Office tools and the latest journalistic software.
• Contributing articles, comments and opinion pieces to the magazine website.
• Ability to write up notes in shorthand.
• Can absorb and organise large amounts of complex information quickly.
