A mix between a waterbuck and a red lechwe – this totally unique antelope, called a ‘wachwe’ – is caught in limbo between a pack of hungry African wild dogs and a group of territorial hippos in the Okavango river.
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TRANSCRIPT
(calm music) - In these flood waters, there is a single, rare antelope on the move today.
He is so rare that he's one of a kind.
There has never been another like him seen anywhere in the world.
At first glance, he looks like a common red lechwe.
It's not surprising.
His mother was a lechwe.
But his father was a waterbuck.
We'll call him a wachwe, in honor of both parents.
Today, the wachwe is in deep trouble and the pack knows it.
(chirping) The wachwe is larger than any normal lechwe, and though that may confuse them, the painted dogs are not easily scared off by size.
But he's not a complete loner, today he's found his half-brother.
A real waterbuck.
(snorting) Their interesting and different genetics may be academic now.
The real threat may actually be in the water they are using for their escape.
(grunting) Hippos attack each other, so complete strangers are not welcome in this pool.
(grunting) They're in trouble if they don't leave the water now.
But they're in trouble if they try to.
(grunting) (cackling) (cackling) The confidence of being born bigger and bolder than his siblings is paying off.
But today, the two antelopes find safety in limbo, somewhere between the river bank and the deeper water.
Even the hunting dogs won't risk offending hippos.
It's a stand-off between an endangered predator and an antelope that doesn't really exist.