The impressive moment a herd of elephants club together to save one of their young calves from hungry lionesses has been caught on camera in Botswana.
Photographs taken by British photographer James Gifford show one lioness stalking the small elephant before leaping onto its back in Chobe National Park.
But she wasn’t strong enough to take down her prey by herself and by the time backup arrived, what appeared to be an entire herd of elephants was there to defend the calf.
James said: ‘When I saw the elephant herd approaching their direction, the lions lay low. The elephants didn’t appear to notice the lions, or if they did, they didn’t perceive them as a threat.
‘The pride wouldn’t have any chance against the herd, so they waited until the adults had already passed before a couple of the lionesses seized their opportunity to attack a youngster which was on its own, straggling some distance behind the others.
‘The unfortunate youngster got the fright of its life, but although one of the lionesses succeeded in jumping on its back, she was unable to bring it down on her own. Crucially a second female only arrived to help 10 seconds later, by which time the brief window of opportunity had closed.
‘The calf fled towards the safety of the herd and when it was within around 20 metres, the lionesses abandoned the attack knowing that if they got too close to the adult elephants, they risked serious injury.’
