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Lion Predation
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Hopefully this haven´t been here too many times before. From late 2016.
Lions team up for some crocodile hunting in Zimbabwe Why take on an agile antelope when a sleeping crocodile is ripe for the picking? These two young lions and their reptilian feast were filmed on the shores of Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba at Bumi Hills Safari Lodge, and the footage was uploaded to YouTube by Safari Guide Africa. “We first noticed this behaviour last year when we found two small crocodile carcasses, which had clearly been killed and eaten by lions," the lodge’s deputy general, Catherine Norton, told News24. “We thought it was an opportunistic kill and was unlikely to be repeated." But that assumption proved incorrect. According to the team at the lodge, the pair has now killed as many as three large crocs over the past two weeks. And although an actual kill hasn’t yet been witnessed, the lions appear to be working together while taking down their massive prey: one brother distracts, while the other quite literally goes for the jugular. “We think that it is learned behaviour,” says Norton. “When you think about it, killing a crocodile which could well be half asleep dozing in the sun is a lot simpler than stalking and chasing after an alert and nimble antelope." Strange as this feeding choice might be, Norton adds, it has nothing to do with a shortage of the cats' usual prey – buffalo, kudu and impala are all in healthy supply in the area. At the end of the day, what we're most likely seeing is simply a couple of crafty lions making life just a little bit easier on themselves. Source: https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/predator-vs-prey/lions-team-up-for-some-crocodile-hunting-in-zimbabwe/ 
@Shadow :
About #705: It's fascinating to see how lions can be opportunist. What does it happen when suddendly one of them remarks it could be easyer to kill a big croc rather than to run after an antelope in order to kill it ? The way to describe how to make a croc a prey (one lion tryes to distract it while the other catches it directly at the jugular) makes us feeling that the croc would be a prey much more easy to catch and kill... At another place lions would be buffalos hunters, or hippos hunters, or even elephants hunters. For this last exemple, Dereck and Bewerly Joubert relate how the lions became progressively elephants hunter during a severe drought period. At first by attacking the cubs and step by step by aggressing individuals more and more adult. After we can speak about a learned behaviour. Of course too tigers and the other big cats can be as opportunistic as the lions and learn how to kill some unusual preys. But may be because lions living in pride these acquitted behaviours are more spectacular if all members of the pride are assimilating this new method towards an unusual prey becoming usual.
Epic ! The lioness lyes down on the ground to make the wildebeest excited and more aggressiv... Mental manipulation ?
 Regarding lions killing hippos, I doubt a lion can kill a healthy hippo single handedly. Lion's however attack hippos that have wondered too far from the waters using the environment as a catalyst. The reason why hippos come out from the rivers at night is their thin epidermis (despite their thick inner skin and fat which protects their vital organs) makes them prone to dehydration and exhaustion and should they wander far away from the water, lions use this to their advantage. (09-27-2019, 08:47 PM)GreenGrolar Wrote: Difficult to say, if a good bite connects with spine, that´s it, healthy or not. Still obviously hippo is very difficult to kill. Everyone can make their own conclusions from known cases. It´s very difficult to say where limits go for a single big cat. Hippo is in my opinion still easy when compared to a rhino. Sometimes some individuals can learn and become specialists. Lions for sure have needed "weaponry" to immobilize a hippo, it´s all about it, that do they use it right. Same thing as with cape buffalos for instance, I´ve seen two hyenas to bring down cape buffalo bull with ease. Practically it was just one hyena while other one was looking. There are many things, which some animals are capable to do. Some individuals are hopeless in things, which some other individuals make look like easy.
New here (first post) :)
In response to lions hunting hippos, I believe that while not preferred prey due to their size, agression, and amphibious nature, it is in my opinion still plausible for a lion to kill a hippo single handedly, especially if it's a cow. Not sure if this has been posted here, but this make lion is attacking an adult bull hippo: https://youtu.be/eR2ud3LbEJk Obviously he didn't succeed hahaha.
Lioness biting deathly the baby (at least very young) hippo's jugular... The eye is glassy.
 (09-30-2019, 06:48 AM)BlakeW39 Wrote: New here (first post) :) (10-01-2019, 10:26 AM)Spalea Wrote: @BlakeW39 : Hippos with their short legs, leave a hard time pivoting. As long as the much more agile lion stats at its hindside it completely safe... I've noticed this several times. In such cases the only factor on which the success of failure of the depends is how far the hippo is from water. Quote:Hippos with their short legs, leave a hard time pivoting. As long as the much more agile lion stats at its hindside it completely safe... I've noticed this several times. @Rishi I agree, and in fact while the hippo has a very heavy and massive build compared to virtually all other megahernivores with their barrel-like body and short but thickly muscled legs, their jaws propose a a greater threat than perhaps any other weapon of any herbivore. However this stockiness prevents them from attaining the great agility of the rhinoceros - especially the black variety - which may make them a more difficult prey resource. Indeed, the times I have seen lions attack hippos it has been to go at the back and try wrestle it down over time and tire it. It is indicative of their methods from my perspective that they indeed do prefer to use this method, which may be explained by their often very open and cover-less environment. I have some good videos I don't believe have been posted here, and I'll try my best to find them  lol
 (10-03-2019, 08:25 AM)Rishi Wrote:(09-30-2019, 06:48 AM)BlakeW39 Wrote: New here (first post) :) In the end, the hippo still survives and chase the lion off according to the video description. A single male lion is not a threat to a bull hippo, I think same applies to other big cats as well. A big male herbivore, especially when in one on one encounters, is just too much.
A lone male lion running after a wildebeests herd and killing one of them into the mud.
Instagram has lots of nice pictures and data, if you can find it in that maze of a place.
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