What do you do instead of grieving for your offspring? Adopt, baby!

After her cubs were killed by a rival male lion when he took over the pride, a lioness adopted a young springbok as if it were her own.

The moment was captured by photographer Gordon Donovan, who then shared the extraordinary scenes of her tenderly cradling the antelope, licking it clean and shielding it from danger, reports Daily Mail.

Apparently the lioness even protected the bokkie from a pair of pregnant lions who approached in search of food at Etosha National Park in Namibia.

Take a look:

So adorable. Reminds me of the opening scenes of The Lion King, where Sarafina licks an irritable Nala before going to play with Simba.

You can see more images of the lioness / bokkie duo here.

Donovan, who is from New York, had a few things to say on the moment:

‘It was a bizarre yet stunning sight to behold. I was excited about the lions, and when she captured the springbok I was waiting for the kill.

‘But it never came and started cleaning the calf. That’s the mysterious way of nature, never knowing what will happen next.

‘Then she protected her adopted springbok cub from the other lions. These are the moments I seek when I go to Africa.’

Aaaah, Africa.

So what happened once Donavan stopped snapping photos? Sorry to burst your bubble, but if past evidence is anything to go on that bokkie probably ended up being nibbled.

A reader, Jemma, emailed in with this to say:

I was reading your story about the lioness adopting a springbok this morning with interest. The story is highly unusual and I think the photographer may have been mistaken about what was actually happening.

In my experience (working for a safari company) lions sometimes look like they are going to adopt their prey, and even seem to be cleaning them as they would cubs, however, that is generally just to tenderise the skin and remove the hair before killing and eating the prey.

The email came with this video:

Maybe it’s a good thing the camera stopped snapping when it did.

[source:dailymail]