A series of photographs captures the heart-stopping moment a mother hippo saved her baby from being crushed by a massive elephant.
While on safari in Namibia’s Erindi Game Reserve, photographer Quintus Strauss came across a newborn hippo playing with its mother and stopped to photograph it.
Quintus heard an angry elephant approaching the young hippo in the water within minutes.
After starting the sequence, the photographer from Hoedspruit, Mopani, Zambia, saw the mother hippo come to the rescue and begin fighting with the giant mammal.
Fortunately, the mother protected her children and successfully fought off the elephant, leaving it in pain on its upper trunk.
‘On the first day, in the early morning, we went on a game drive and returned to the lodge for breakfast,’ Quintus explained.
‘The restaurant has a view of the dam, and there were hippo with a newborn baby [sic].
‘After breakfast, I went to my room, which also overlooked the dam, and downloaded my morning photos.
When I heard an elephant trumpeting and water splashing, I went outside to see the elephant chasing the mother hippo.
‘I went back, grabbed my camera, and went outside again, where I saw the elephant walking to the baby and splashing it – then bent down to get a better look at it.
‘The hippo mother returned and then got into a fight with the elephant, protecting her baby and injuring the elephant on its upper trunk.
‘I believe the hippos’ teeth did him in.
‘After that, everything calmed down, and the mother and baby went their separate ways.’
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