How did the calf eat?
The calf was utterly attached to the lioness, but it would consistently seek out oryx, associating them with mother and milk. Rangers reported that it had been leaving the lioness to go and suckle from its mother. We never saw this ourselves, but we did see it approach oryx on several occasions and be accepted by them. I believe that it is quite possible that this happened as we saw that the lioness would allow the baby to spend time with oryx. The mother would have stayed close by once she saw that the baby had not been eaten. I do not know how the baby could have survived if it had not been suckling from its mother, and Dr. Mark Stanley Price – an oryx expert – thinks that it would not have survived for more than a few days without milk.
