Mothers of the Wild (and my encounters with them)

Everyone has a mother and if there’s one thing I’ve learned about being around wild animals; it’s don’t mess with Momma.  I thought I would share a few quick, exciting encounters with mother animals as a belated Mother’s Day post.

Every time I’m learning about animals there is always the “Mother Factor”.  An animal may not want to hurt you or be dangerous in general…. unless it’s a mother. Take for instance Grizzly Bears; most the time that they are awake they are too busy eating berries and flowers to want to harm you. 

Last year I worked in Canada as a grizzly bear researcher and I’ve had my fair share of bear encounters.  One day I was on my ATV trying to get to a collection site, when I came upon 3 little grizzly cubs. You’d think, what a great experience; where’s my camera.  No, it was an extremely nerve-racking moment. Where there are cubs there’s a momma bear, a big momma bear.  I couldn’t see her; the cubs had climbed up trees just next to me. After all the training we had had on defending yourself from bear attacks, basically you can throw it away when a mother is involved, because she will stop at nothing.  I immediately drew my bear spray and gunned the quad bike.

4 months spent tracking grizzlies, I had many encounters, but never got a single picture so this is stock

Back in Africa just a few weeks ago in the park, I was driving my truck up the western savanna trying to track the wild dog pack.  I drive this area everyday and barely see anything other than the occasional duiker or kudu.  Scanning the sand path looking for signs, I spotted something out of the ordinary. It appeared to be 2 large tracks or 4 small ones, but just in one place, as if something stepped onto the road and immediately stepped off.  I slammed on the breaks so as not to destroy the tracks.  After a quick glance at the bushes around me I disembarked to get a closer look.

Just as I took a step around the front of the car….in an instant I heard an immense roar and the only thing I saw as my eyes looked up was a massive lioness stopping just at the edge of the road in front of me.  I don’t know how it happened, but the next thing I knew I was sitting in the truck, knife drawn with a heart rate of probably 200+.  With my brain in overdrive, I quickly reversed the truck back down the sand road.  As I was backing up, I spotted something moving quickly through the grass beside me.  Realizing that she was running after me I put the pedal to the floor.  (You have to realize here that lions will not attack or threaten a vehicle, it’s much too large. Yet this lioness was bent on getting me the hell away from her space).

Finally far enough away, I realized immediately which lion it was, Dee.  Dee has cubs and they must have been close to where I got out of the truck. Several hundred meters away now, I could hear her chuffing or making an alarm roar as a warning of attack.  A lioness with cubs will not think twice about killing anything that threatens her.  Many people have been killed just by walking into an area where cubs were. 

 

Dee in the road just after she bluff charged me.  I was too shaky to get a decent shot of her. 

Photo by one of the volunteers in the park, but another mother in Tembe

The most amazing part is that from where she was (likely 15-30 yards from the road) to where she stopped just a few feet in front of me, took the same amount of time for me to hear her and move my eyes. Moving faster than my brain, ears, and eyes could coordinate! I was sparred that day.

You’d think lions would be most dangerous mothers, however ask any field ranger or experienced African wildlife person what they fear most and the answer is always elephants.  Female and young elephants stay together in groups called “breeding herds”.  Cross the path of one of these breeding herds and you are in for a world of trouble.  Elderly elephant matriarchs will think nothing of leading a stampede towards, over, and on your vehicle if you get too close.

My last day at Tembe Elephant Park I was driving through the swamps trying to get some pictures, as the area is really open and always full of elephants. I was parked on the side of the swamp taking some photos of a group of males, when I realized there was a female with them.  This shouldn’t happen, as females are always with breeding herds. The shrill trumpeting of the rest of the herd gave me the answer. I quickly started the truck and put my shifting skills to the test. Looking in the rearview mirror I saw the rest of the herd immerge from the thicket next to the road.  Barreling after me in a charge of flailing trunks and flapping ears was probably 6-7 large females with their calves in tail.  Elephants can’t run, but they do walk really fast, about 25 mph (40kph).  It may not seem quick, but 35 tons of elephant going any faster than a walk is an intimidation, especially all mothers.

 

Some of the mothers of young eles I've run into

A breeding herd moving across the swamp

The youngest calve in the park

Moral of the story, don’t mess with moms.  Their bravery and instinct to protect their children is unmatched in both our own mothers and those of the wild.