Wildebeests, a type of African antelopes also known as gnus, migrate yearly in huge herds to the plains of Tanzania's Serengeti to mate and to birth their young. Also on the Serengeti Plain roam vicious predators, including the hyena. In this hostile setting, a newborn wildebeest has about 15 minutes to get up and run with the adult herd. Slow starters risk becoming hyena lunch.

Discovery Channel showed film of a wildebeest giving birth on the Serengeti. Her baby barely had time to get used to breathing when the mother nudged it to get it standing. Picture the newborn on wobbly hind legs with its forelegs still bent underneath its bobbing head. Between the mother's nudging the baby's inexperience, the newborn is worn out after five minutes of repeated attempts to stand.

Then the camera picks up a hyena approaching stiff-legged with lowered head and slightly bared teeth. The mother wildebeest bravely steps between the hyena and the baby, but another hyena appears, followed closely by a third. The mother lunges at the newcomer. Although it backs away, another skulks in closer to the helpless infant. Before long a circle of hyenas occupies the mother wildebeest while other hyenas eat the baby.

Meanwhile, spread out nearby, literally thousands of other wildebeest graze, now and then lifting their heads to watch the desperate mother attempt to fight off the hyenas. Any of them could easily help save the newborn, but not a single one does.