Mom to the rescue! Incredible moment when a jackal cub is thrown by an eagle that had pounced on him after his mother scared him
- Tawny eagle swoops down and snatches jackal cub in Kenyan footage
- Its mother attacked the predator, causing it to drop its cup in mid-flight.
Incredible footage shows the moment a jackal rescues its cub from the clutches of an eagle.
A tawny eagle swooped down and snatched the jackal from its terrified mother in footage taken in the Masai Mara, Kenya.
The mother lunged at the predator, causing it to toss her cub into the air. He landed back on the ground unharmed, much to the joy of his mother, who grabbed him and escaped the eagle’s reach.
Photographer Ateeb Hussain, 39, captured the dramatic moment and said he first saw the mother jackal with the cub in her mouth moving frantically.
At first, he thought she was looking for hyenas in the area, but 10 to 15 minutes after first seeing the mother, a tawny eagle suddenly swooped down and tried to snatch the cub from the mother’s hands.
A tawny eagle swooped down and snatched the jackal from its terrified mother.
Photographer Ateeb Hussain, 39, captured the dramatic moment in Masai Mara, Kenya, and said he first saw the mother jackal with the cub in her mouth moving frantically.
It lunged at the predator, causing it to drop its cub into the air. He landed back on the ground unharmed, much to the joy of his mother, who grabbed him and escaped the eagle’s reach.
The jackal managed to escape the eagle’s grasp for a while by outrunning it, but the predator came for the cub a second time and managed to catch its prey.
Mr Hussain said: ‘It was very fast and only lasted a couple of seconds.
The eagle grabbed the cub, but the jackal pounced on it, and the cub fell mid-flight.
He seemed pretty good despite all his problems. Perhaps the eagle hadn’t gotten a secure enough grip.’
After a few minutes, the eagle went after the mother and her cub once more, but when it was unsuccessful, it finally gave up and flew away.
“We followed the jackal for a kilometer or so until we saw it rejoin its mate at a new site. The entire sighting must have been for an hour and a bit,” Hussain said.
“In all my years of exploring nature, I can’t recall coming across a more rare and dramatic interaction between species. The pup was very lucky to be dropped and survived the attempt to grab it.”
At first, he thought she was looking for hyenas in the area, but 10 to 15 minutes after first seeing the mother, a tawny eagle suddenly swooped down and tried to snatch the cub from the mother’s hands.
After a few minutes, the eagle went after the mother and her cub once more, but being unsuccessful, it finally gave up and flew away.
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