Lion Predation

[GuateGojira]

(04-27-2020, 03:46 AM)Styx38 Wrote: Lion kills Bull Eland after latching on for  a long time:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Eventually, Lioness pulls down Eland after latching on for a while

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Eland is still alive.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Lioness is tired after killing or incapacitating the Eland bull. 

*This image is copyright of its original author

Originally, screenshots are from this video, but this was posted in Quora and some forums:

@GuateGojira


Here is a lone Lion (female) taking down a Bull Eland.

I was checking the video again and this bull was killed in Schotia South Africa, so this eland is especifically the Cape eland (Taurotragus oryx orix). According with José R. Castelló in his book "BOVIDS OF THE WORLD" of 2016, the Cape eland is about the smallest of the species, with males weighing up to 700 kg maximum. Thouless (2013; in Kingdon & Hoffmann (2013) Vol VI) quotes Skinner (1967) that gave the mean mass of 19 mature bulls from bushveld areas as 650 kg (range 425–840). Also Wilson (1969) gave the mean mass of five mature bulls as 604 kg (range 530–690), and ten females had a mean weight of 445 kg (range 385–470). Finally wild Common Elands from the KwaZulu–Natal Drakensberg are lighter, with mean adult masses of 453 kg (n=17) for males and 305 kg (n=61) for females (Scotcher 1982; and see Keep 1972).

So, the biggest population of this particular subspecies are those from the bushveld area, but that is too north for the specimen in the video, while those of the KwaZulu–Natal are closer, but still far away. It will be interesting to see if Wilson (1969) provide an specific location for his records as Thouless do not quote it. This means that the eland in the video is not even close to the 900 kg that we previously believed and probably weighed between 700 or maybe up to 800 kg, lower than the giant elands of East Africa, but still a great feat for a lioness.

This means that the record for the biggest prey that a lion can kill single handle is still with the African buffalo (excluding the exceptional cases of the giraffes and young elephants, of course) with a maximum weight of 900 kg recorded in the Willem Pretorius Game Reserve. Reply