These heart-stopping pictures show the moment a baby hippo was thrown into the air as it was mauled to death after getting caught up in a fight between two adults.
The helpless five-day-old hippopotamus was seen being hurled into the air after it strayed into the firing line of an adult male, which was tussling with its rival.
The calf's mother watched in horror as the hippo was flung into the air before being dragged along the surface of the water in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, in eastern South Africa.
The two male hippos had been fighting for some time and the mother of the calf stayed with her herd, possibly believing it safer to stay out of harm's way herself.
Her decision proved fatal for the baby when one of the brawling adults grabbed the calf between its jaws.
Stacey Farrell, a 30-year-old tour operator for Shoreline Hippo and Safari, looked on with horror as the calf was caught up in the deadly fray.
She said: 'For hours she chased away the sub-adults and younger hippos from her little baby as I believe she knew they would be too rough.
'Sadly, as she closed her eye one of the sub-adult hippos grabbed the young calf. Whether intending to kill it or a bit of play or possibly jealousy gone wrong we'll never know.
'The mother tried to get the baby back but with the young calf in the sub-adult's mouth there wasn't much she could do.
'She attacked the hippo on the neck which forced the sub-adult to bite down harder and then suddenly flicked the baby in the air.'
The hippopotamus died of its injured hours later.
(dailymail.co.uk)
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