I know it’s a joke but with the caption “nature in a nutshell” makes it as though this is perfectly legit and plants the wrong idea to people that all animal species do this. Some species would instinctively leave their young but not buffaloes. Buffaloes rarely leave their young to predators unless they know it’s totally hopeless to save them. This meme could have picked a more accurate species that does this escape tactic.
It seems like this joke is a recent perpetuation. I’ve seen in Reddit talk about it as well.