Crocodile and Big cats Interaction

[Shadow]

(10-18-2020, 07:08 PM)TheSmok Wrote:

(10-18-2020, 06:03 PM)Shadow Wrote: I've read about lions specialized In killing crocodiles In some occasions. Bumi lions as one example. And when looking at known interactions usually big cats are the ones killing crocodiles. I find it interesting because I thought earlier that it would be the opposite. I had to change my opinion after some time. It's why I think that situation is something similar with other big cats. Naturally not all big cats are so eager to kill crocodiles, but some which learn it can be ruthless. Like for instance Machli and Bumi liond and some others.

As far as I remember, Bumi lions were only seen feeding on four crocodiles (and this old uncovered carcass most likely was scavenged - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbkpYukox-c). It's not even close to specialization. This is just a small addition to the diet.

Machli also killed only 3 other crocs according to R.S. Shekhawat:

Quote:I have seen three instances when she killed a crocodile during my tenure because they come up on dry land in summer and are a danger to the cubs.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/70...pring-dies

He also claimed that this was in order to protect the cubs.

And although big cats in general may kill crocodiles more often than vice versa, it can be also noted that big cats very rarely kill large crocodiles. The largest crocodiles ever killed by big cats appear to be the 11-foot-7-inch (~353.06 cm) Nile crocodile killed by the lion in Uganda, and about the same-sized mugger killed by tigress Machli after a 13 hour fight. These individuals are quite large (possibly up to 180-200 kg in weight), but they are much smaller than large territorial males from some populations.

As far as I remember, Bumi lions were called specialized crocodile killers by locals who observed these lions and they killed some big crocodiles, three were approximately 4 meters long, one was measured to be a bit over 4 meters. You can call it something else, but I see them as lions, which learned to do something and became good in it and their special feature was to kill crocodiles with relative ease. If believing people who saw what happened and in this case I do believe them. Reason is, that there are other lions doing the same in different places. There are lions killing more buffalos than others and very good in it, some kill hippos, while other don´t. Some have been killing more elephants than others and learned better how to do it. I see it as a valid reason to call some lions specialized croc killers as much as some can be called specialized buffalo killers. 

Anyway what comes to lions and crocodiles, I wrote how I see it overall based on information I have been able to find. I don´t have now time to go through all what I´ve seen, but even with simple google searches it´s possible for anyone interested to find more information. Some game ranger diaries/notes are more difficult to find, but there is also older information. I´m quite cautious with older texts often, but what comes to lions and crocodiles, those older observations which I´ve seen fit in line with current observations/photos etc.

So I do believe in lions and other big cats, which have become specialized crocodile hunters/killers. But free world for people who disagree. My main point for people who are interested is, seek yourself too, don´t believe too easily what I say or some other. I have done so always and it´s interesting to do so, imo. What comes to this topic, as I said earlier, I had thought that crocodiles would have clear upper hand, but with time I changed my mind, big cats are surprisingly capable to confront crocodiles. Reply