The lioness who showed remorse after realising it had killed a pregnant antelope



These are the shocking pictures that show that nature is brutal - but also profoundly moving.

After realising an antelope she has killed was pregnant, a lioness removes the unborn calf, tries to nudge it back to life and even protects and hides it as if it is her own cub.

The lioness even seems to show regret for her actions and the pictures will spark a debate about the awareness of animals.

Guilty: The lioness removes the unborn antelope, and appears bashful at killing a baby

The remarkable sequence of photos were captured by conservationist and reserve ranger Gerry Van Der Walt.

The party had been travelling through the Madikwe Game Reserve, in South Africa, early this year when they came across the predator and a dead Red Hartebeest antelope.

He and a group of visitors spotted the big cat just moments after she had made her kill and expected to witness nothing more than a simple feeding.

But what followed astounded everyone.

Gerry, 33, who has worked on reserves and with wildlife in South Africa for more than two decades, said that he thought the kill was going to be pretty much 'by the book'.

He said: 'My guests were also watching the scene through their video cameras and binoculars.

'As the lioness got hold of what we thought was the stomach she started pulling it out.

'But as the cat stood up to get a little more leverage a ranger next to me said: "That is not the stomach".

'I have seen a lion kill where the prey was pregnant but normally they would just carry on feeding as if nothing was wrong.

'But this time the scenes that followed had us all dumbstruck.

'Once out of the mother the lioness very gently placed the foetus on the floor and spent quite a bit of time smelling and investigating the unborn Hartebeest.

The lioness stopped feeding, tried again to nudge the fetus, had a troubled nap, then dragged the fetus to a bush before slinking away

'Her body language was strange for a lioness in her situation and it seemed that she was clearly perturbed by what had just happened and kept on looking around as if to look for help.

'After a while she kept on feeding and started removing the stomach contents, all the while seeming to make a concerted effort to stay away from the foetus.

'But soon she was not feeding at all and returned her attention to the foetus which she very gently picked up by the nose.

'Then she stood, with the foetus in her mouth, for what seemed like ages, looking around in all directions as if checking for something.

'After a few minutes she started walking off towards a thicket very close to her kill.

'She stopped again and very gently put the foetus on the floor, all the time looking around and looking quite tense and nervous.

'She proceeded to nudge the foetus with her nose, gently rolling it over, before she picked it up on the back of the neck as if it was one of her own cubs.

'We watched as she carefully walked towards the thicket where she placed the foetus very carefully at the bottom of the long grass.

'She nudged it a few times again with her nose, still looking around all the time as if she was expecting either help or danger.'

Gerry said he and his guests watched in amazement as the lioness returned to the carcass of the calf's mother.

He said: 'She slowly returned to the carcass where she did not continue feeding but instead looked around again and then slowly laid down where she fell asleep.

'This was definitely one of the most extraordinary moments of lion behavior I have ever witnessed. What was she thinking? Why did she react the way she did?

'Did her "mother instincts" kick in? Was there still a heartbeat that she could feel? Was she trying to protect the unborn Hartebeest?

'This sighting was something that caught us all off guard and will stay with me for quite some time.

'I do not know if I will ever understand exactly what happened but in a cruel, beautiful way we witnessed a piece of African magic.'