Josie was 17 years old and had been unable to see for half a decade. In Addo National Park, in South Africa, that should have been a death sentence: a blind predator does not hunt, defend itself, or survive alone. But Josie was never alone.
Her daughters, Dawn and Duffy, took turns walking by her side so she would not lose the group’s direction. The two of them hunted. And then, something that seems almost human: they called their mother so she could eat first. No one forced them. There was no entire pride caring for her, just two lionesses who decided that you do not reduce the size of a family because someone can no longer see. Thanks to them, Josie reached 17 years of age, an almost impossible age for a wild lioness.
Photographer Steven Lang documented how the three of them always stayed together, caring for one another until the end. It turns out that not leaving anyone behind is not just a human thing either.