#1
One slip from her and both animals could end up dead at the bottom of the ravine. Just as the exhausted cub seems about to fall, his mother circles beneath him and he is snatched up in her jaws. She then had to dive for him when he fell from the crumbling refuge. The lioness eventually clawed her way back to the top with the cub in her jaws.
Once back to safety, she gave the wayward youngster an affectionate lick of the head. The amazing rescue at Kenya’s Masai Mara game reserve was captured by wildlife photographer Jean-Francois Largot.
Despite the presence of lawmen to dissuade poachers, day-to-day life for the lions is not without its dangers … as the cub learned the hard way.
#2
Cliffhanger! Lion cub saved by mom in dramatic scenes caught on camera as he cries out pitifully for help
In the sequence the brave mother shows her strength as she lifts her cub to a safe refuge in a dramatic cliff-side rescue after the young male wandered off from the herd and became stranded above a deep valley.
His mother arrives at the edge of
the ravine with three other lionesses and a male. The females start to
climb down together but return back scared off by the sheer drop. Finally, one single factor determines
which one of them will risk her life to save the youngster – the
love of a mother.
Four lionesses look over the edge before aborting their rescue mission. Slowly, agonisingly, the big cat edges her way down towards her terrified son, using her powerful claws to grip the crumbling cliff side. Facing an almost vertical climb and the prospect of a huge drop, the lioness carefully made her way to the ledge where the cub was stuck
One slip from her and both animals could end up dead at the bottom of the ravine. Just as the exhausted cub seems about to fall, his mother circles beneath him and he is snatched up in her jaws. She then had to dive for him when he fell from the crumbling refuge. The lioness eventually clawed her way back to the top with the cub in her jaws.
