A mother will do anything to protect her child, even it means putting herself in damage's way. There's no difference if the mother belongs to a human or an animal world. Here, a fully-grown hippopotamus stood in a way of an enraged elephant bull, giving her calf a chance to run to safety. This story has a happy ending: the hippo escaped relatively unharmed.
The majestic scene was
captured by wildlife photographer in Namibia's Erindi Private Game Reserve, Windhoek.
The eyewitnesses say that, because of the raging draught, the staff of the private reserve came out to put some grass for hippos, and, immediately, dozens of these animals sped out of the water and started grazing.
When the hippo mother in the pictures got too close, the elephant charged.
Although adult female hippos can weigh upwards of 1.5 tonnes, the cow was dwarfed by the male elephant - which was able to flip her with his trunk with ease. She landed on her back and rolled 360 degrees down the embankment towards the water.
The story continues below
The calf ran away towards the other hippos, and the mother stayed in the water for about five minutes before eventually coming out. The mother and the calf were quickly reunited, but the herd acted aggressively towards them, and they were forced to retreat.
The elephant further carried out a series of mock charges on other hippos, then trotted into the waterhole to chase away a few sunbathing crocodiles. The irate giant then treated himself to a dust bath before departing, leaving the hippos to finish grazing the grass in peace.