VIDEO: Elephant tries saving stuck rhino from hungry lions
This is one of the craziest wildlife interactions yet…
A video shared on Latest Sightings shows the moment chaos erupted when a rhino got stuck in the mud at a waterhole.
To make matters worse, the rhino got stuck near a pride of lions, who quickly started attacking the distressed animal.
Luckily, a passing herd of elephants noticed the ordeal and headed to the rhino to save it from the clutches of the lions.
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In their post, the YouTube channel noted that it is one of the craziest wildlife interactions Latest Sightings has ever shared.
According to Latest Sightings, the video was captured by Kim Hathway, a consultant broker for Discovery, who saw the entire scene play out in Etosha National Park.
Watch the full video here:
Kim and her friends were the only people at the Aus waterhole on the day; having no luck with their sightings, they were just about to move on to their next location.
Then, out of nothing but luck, a lioness stuck her head over the hill.
The pride of lions made their way toward the waterhole, filling the atmosphere with excitement. Kim had a feeling that they were ready for action.
A few minutes later, a large black rhino came galloping over the same hill. Exhausted by the Namibian heat, it headed straight for the little that remained in the waterhole.
It instantly plonked itself down, trying to cool off in the muddied water. Kim couldn’t believe her luck.
At the time, the rhino couldn’t seem to care about the nearby predators; it was too set on getting a drink, but the lions were certainly aware of it.
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The pride inched their way closer and closer, but the rhino didn’t let out much of a reaction. It was almost as if it couldn’t.
This is when Kim realised that something was wrong. The waterhole was quite deep, and with the thick mud at the bottom, the rhino was stuck and became a sitting duck for the hungry pride of lions.
The lions eventually realised what was happening and decided to make the most of their luck.
Although they knew it was stuck, they were still fully aware of how dangerous a rhino can be.
They cautiously approached and used hunting tactics to try and finish the job. Sadly, there wasn’t much that the immobile rhino could do, but all the commotion created by the lions amazingly gave the helpless rhino a lifeline!
A passing herd of elephants saw what was happening and acted immediately.
They charged at the pride as a unit, forcing the lions to back off.
With the threat out of sight, most of the herd continued on their way, but one elephant wasn’t happy to leave the rhino at the mercy of the lions.
It desperately tried to get the rhino out of the waterhole. Using its tusks and foot, it pushed and pushed without any luck.
At one point, the elephant even looked like it was on top of the poor rhino. This lasted for hours, and unfortunately, it came to the point where the elephant could no longer do anything.
It had to move on, even knowing that the lions were still around. It didn’t take long for the pride to swing back into action.
The elephant herd was still around, and they chased them off a few more times, but the elephants soon realised that the case was hopeless and that there was nothing they could do. They were leaving the rhino all alone once more.
The lions came back in and eventually managed to flip the rhino on its back, leading to its inevitable drowning.
The rhino’s fight was over, and the predators came out as the victors in this unbelievable wildlife story.
Latest Sightings is a YouTube channel devoted to posting the latest and most exciting wildlife videos.Tune in to the 'Breakfast with Martin Bester', weekdays from 06:00 - 09:00. Stream the show live here or download our mobile app here.