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Is Jaguar capable of killing big crocodiles ?
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@Shadow
Unfortunately, there is no way to verify the claims of this guide regarding the size of the crocodiles, but it looks like photos of all five crocodiles killed and presumed killed by Bumi lions are on the guide's blog and in the safari groups on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bumihillsfoundation/ https://www.facebook.com/BumiHills/ https://safariguideafrica.wordpress.com/...umi-hills/ https://safariguideafrica.wordpress.com/...crocodile/ The first two kills (are described as "two small crocodiles"):  *This image is copyright of its original author A larger crocodile, allegedly measured at 13 feet 6 inches:  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Another pretty large crocodile, filmed just 3 days later:  *This image is copyright of its original author And the last crocodile, the size of which cannot be more or less accurately estimated, but apparently comparable in size with the previous two:  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Probably one of the previous (maybe the last one) crocs, or an additional kill. It is impossible to estimate its size, but it is not very large, judging by the relative size of the boots of the person standing behind:  *This image is copyright of its original author This seems to be all. News articles and posts on their Facebook groups report that they were all estimated at 4+ meters, so it’s hard to tell which one the 14 feet estimate applies to:  *This image is copyright of its original author Quote:In the last two weeks the brothers have "dispatched" three large crocodiles measuring up to four metres.https://www.news24.com/News24/watch-zim-...a-20160310 Personally, I find it difficult to estimate any of these crocodiles at 14 feet. Here are other visual comparisons of animals from this guide's footage, which can be pretty neat due to the appropriate camera angles, so hopefully you can understand my skepticism when comparing animals in photographs. The second (allegedly 4 meter long) large crocodile killed, probably just under 11 feet (3.3 meters):  *This image is copyright of its original author Crocodile from the video of the same guide with other lions, which he visually estimated at 14 feet. It is actually about 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) long if the lionesses are of average size:  *This image is copyright of its original author Claims about lions taking larger crocodiles may not be as extraordinary when you look at the size of the largest megafaunal herbivores that lions are known to kill, but they are certainly extraordinary compared to any verified data on predation by non-crocodilian predators on crocodiles. The Nile crocodile is not a buffalo or a giraffe, but an another formidable macro-predator that has never been a prey in an evolutionary relationships with lions… After all, a 14-foot crocodile on its own is also capable of taking a large buffalo bull. There are several reasons why it is difficult for predators to kill other predators, and why even a small difference in size often determines the dominant side when two predators interact. Lions simply have no more evolutionary adaptations for predation on crocodiles than crocodiles for predation on lions. What else causes me strong doubts about the stated sizes of the killed crocodiles is that, as reported after the killing of the alleged 13 foot 6 inch crocodile, Bumi lions made the next kill just 3 days later:  *This image is copyright of its original author The guide refers to this as "a few days":  *This image is copyright of its original author At the same time, the alleged 13 foot 6 inch crocodile was completely eaten, leaving only the head, vertebral column, limbs and tail tip. Considering that a crocodile of this length should weigh about 300 kg, and at least 2/3 of the carcass was eaten, how can two young male lions eat 200 kg of meat and entrails in 3 days, and remain so hungry to go for the next kill? Quote:The food intake of a wild-living lion can be as high as 25kg in one sittng (Lindburg 1988). Schaller (1972) even lreported that two free-ranging male lions each ingested an estimated 43 kg of meat. The average daily food intake ranged from 4.6 kg to 6.4 kg in the Karongwe game reserve (Lehmann et al. 2008) and 4.7 kg for female lions to 7.2kg for male lions in the Kalahari Desert (Eloff, 1984). Although fed more frequently, lions on HF feeding had a daily food intake of merely 3kg whereas lions on LF feeding had an average daily food intake of 4.76 kg. https://www.researchgate.net/publication...nthera_leo Based on this data, a 13 ft 6 inch crocodile carcass would feed two young lions for over two weeks, and they could hardly eat more than 1/4 of the carcass at a time if they were extremely hungry... But it is reported that they killed 3 supposedly 4-meter crocodiles in two weeks (which means they ate ~600 kg of meat in 2 weeks if they ate at least 2/3 of them all), and that after they killed alleged 13 feet 6 inches crocodile, they completely ate it and went to the next kill in just three days... The next supposedly killed crocodile was also largely eaten: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbkpYuko...=emb_title Did the Bumi Lions have bottomless stomachs, or are the killed crocodiles much smaller than claimed? The second option is probably. It is also confusing that in the first case the remnants of the crocodile carcass are quite fresh. And also the fact that the carcass of the second crocodile, allegedly killed on the same day, was greatly bloated from cadaveric gases. This carcass has apparently not been looked for the signs of being killed by Bumi lions by their alleged flipping and throat-grabbing tactics, therefore, the claim that the Bumi lions killed this crocodile is rather speculative. Lions will certainly scavenge crocodile carcasses when they can find them. I saw a video of a nomadic male lion walking along the shore, finding and taking out a rotting crocodile carcass from the water, despite its extreme decomposition stage: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xBzOL3j...sp=sharing So, personally, I would prefer to see some stronger evidence that a pair of young male lions can take down a fully grown 14-foot long Nile crocodile, which could weigh as much as both young male lions combined. I do not completely deny the possibility of something like this, but I just want to see better evidence, at least not raising questions like "how two lions ate a 4.1m crocodile in just 3 days" , "why the crocodile carcass is bloated" or "why a visual comparison with a guide's boot suggests the crocodile was only 3 meters long." I will even more believe that some lions have learned to find and kill crocodiles during droughts or cold months. Reptilian physiology distinguishes crocodiles from mammalian carnivores, and makes them vulnerable at some time. It is hard to deny that a group of experienced lions will be able to take any (even very large) crocodile, if it is immobilized or deprived of the opportunity to go into the water... But the alleged incidents of predation by Bumi lions do not seem to be related to anything like this. I agree that some experience gained may allow lions (or other big cats, they are anatomically quite similar after all) to take some large crocodiles, although "large crocodile" is a subjective visual estimate of size, and it gives a very limited idea of the size category of crocodiles that are the target of predation. Of course, a lion on land with relative ease (but not without risk) can take a crocodile close to its own size if it knows how to do it. And the shores of Lake Kariba, overpopulated by crocodiles for some anthropogenic reasons, is one of the rare places where there are so many crocodiles that it might be advisable for lions to sometimes prey on them. After all, I heard about a male leopard who developed the habit of killing hyenas, and the tigress Machli killed at least 3 crocodiles in her life. So the individual habits of predators to kill other predators sometimes do take place. However, think about how five (or, let's say, even ten) crocodiles (especially if they were all only in the 100-150 kg weight range) would contribute to the diet of two lions compared to the number of ungulates they have to kill each year. This is the reason why I find it difficult to call these habits "specialization". On the other hand, it is also difficult to imagine the conditions in which a crocodile would prefer to prey on lions. Wherever there are lions, there are many more ungulates, which are much easier prey. However, crocodiles are not very picky about food, and seem to usually go after any large swimming object. This is the reason why we still see crocodiles attacking big cats, and sometimes even killing them. |
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