An injured antelope’s picture is currently viral on the internet, and it shows the antelope accepting death as it faces a lion.
Images show an oryx facing a lion as they both share the shade of a tree, moments before the wild cat kills it.
According to reports, the incident happened at the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa last month.
Johan de Wet, the photographer who caught the incident on cam, said the antelope was injured and just allowed itself to be killed by the lion.
The antelope had an injured leg.
55-year-old Johan said he started to take pictures of the incident when he realized something was unusual in the scene.
Johan said, “I decided to take pictures when I realized this was an unusual scene with predator and prey being so close in a standoff. I knew there was going to be action.”
He added, “My initial reaction was that the lion probably had eaten recently and wasn’t hungry. It appeared as if the oryx cow realized this and did not feel threatened by sharing the same shade of the tree.”
He continued, “This rationale did however not make sense as the lion is a predator and will catch its prey out of instinct. So I was puzzled…”
Johan shared the images on his Facebook account, where people shared it widely.
Some of the people who commented on the images were wondering if the antelope knew she was about to die.
Johan has been into wildlife photography for almost 7 years now, and he said his timing to capture the entire incident was just pure luck.
Johan said lions usually stalk, chase, and takedown animals when there looking for a meal.
But this time, the lion didn’t have to do any of the things.
Johan explained, “Here, the lion did not need to do any of that. It simply had to wait its chance for the oryx to turn and then pounced with minimal extension of energy. Much like a person walking up and picking an apple off a tree.”
It is still not clear how the oryx injured its foot.
Johan believes that the oryx slipped on the rocks that are cemented around the waterhole.
Talking about the entire incident, Johan said it only took around 5 minutes for the lion to kill the antelope.
He said, “[The encounter lasted] no more than five minutes from when the lion attacked until it was all over.”
The images that were captured by Johan shows that survival of the fittest is the key to survive in the wild.