The Counter attack III

This is from the same series of dhole and sambar interaction.

The action had shifted to the side of the pool where the Sambar mother and fawn were present as seen in the earlier image:
http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2288

One of the Sambar hinds that was attacking the dholes moved over to this side of the pool. She soon started attacking the dholes who were contemplating attacking the fawn.

Canon EOS 1D Mark II, Canon EF 400mm F2.8 L IS USM, EF 1.4xII, ISO 800, f4, 1/200, full frame image.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Love the interaction here... Shows how the herd fends for each other. Do sambars surrogate orphan fawns?

Its good to see it is not only the mother who protects the fawn, but the herd contributes too. In this image the whole action can be seen. Nice composition.

Bibhav,
For protection obviously they have acted in concert here. The fawn was the most vulnerable and could have easily got killed without the effort of others in protection. As far as nourishment is concerned, I don't know. In case of elephants, the calf gets nourishment from lot of cow elephants and that increases the bonding among the group.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi