The baby – just hours old – is too weak to climb back up the cliff but miraculously survives a mauling by the hungry predator.

Shocking images show the youngster with its head in the lion’s jaws and then being dragged by the neck across the riverbed.

Its blinking eyes and soft breathing are the only signs it is still alive. The frantic mum is then seen repeatedly chasing off the lioness from the limp calf in a five-hour battle for survival. Incredibly, the calf was later able to get back on its feet and ran into the water, with the lioness still lurking nearby. But after the exhausting struggle – and no milk from its mother – it was eventually unable to hold its head up and drowned. The incredible scenes were captured in the Masai Mara, Kenya, by safari guides Don Heyneke and Rustom Framjee.

Don, 30, told the safari website Latest Sightings: “Thirty minutes after being born, giraffes are already able to walk with only minimal stumbling, and within ten hours they are able to run. “Unfortunately for this young calf, a hungry lioness and hyena showed interest in the calf right after it was born.” “The mother tried to protect her calf from the lioness and panicked – accidentally bumping the new-born down a cliff.