Lion Predation

[BA0701]

(09-07-2020, 03:00 AM)Shadow Wrote:

(09-07-2020, 02:18 AM)BA0701 Wrote:

(09-07-2020, 01:24 AM)Spalea Wrote:

(09-07-2020, 01:12 AM)BA0701 Wrote:

(09-07-2020, 12:57 AM)Shadow Wrote: On this video Makulu Mapogo is eating leopard tortoise. It can be heard and seen many times how it bites and breaks the shell of the turtle. Leopard tortoises have tough shell and here lion is eating it like it would be crunchy biscuit or something...

I think, that in between 6:30-7:00 can be heard how Makulu bites and crushes the shell. Anyway at 8:30 it lifts the turtle and at 8:33 it can be seen clearly how it has crushed big part of the shell making it easy to eat the turtle inside. At 8:50 Makulu seems to break whole turtle shell to two peaces with ease. 10:49-10:55 also very crunchy.

Quite something to watch, I do hope that not all the lions learn to understand how strong bite they have, turtles are so slow...

Incredible demonstration of the tremendous bite force these animals possess. Something I'm not sure we can fully appreciate. Mak was the impetus behind my desire to learn more about these magnificent creatures. Thanks for sharing this!

Yes, I remember having been surprised that the biased "specialist" Varty told that only tigers, unlike lions, were able to crunch the tortoise's shell... See:

https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-lion-pr...e#pid66704

At #586 and following. But also two previous accounts (and short movies) at #584 and #585.

A very interesting study, as I was always under the impression that hyenas had a more powerful bite force than lions or tigers, according to the study @Shadow referenced in his post there, hyenas are not even close, almost 1/3, with the lions coming in at 1314.7 and the spotted hyena coming in at 565.7. A huge difference.

Bite force is maybe somewhat difficult matter  when talking about some tests, which have been made, those seem to be problematic. If only a few bites, does anyone know how hard really some animal(s) bited. But it´s clear, that certain animals have more than enough strength in their jaws, if they just use that potential, like Makulu did on the video. Some lions would just roll that turtle to different positions and not quite knowing what to do. Not because they couldn´t do the same, they just don´t get it and the turtle survives.

One good example of strength is on video of captive lion Aslan from Norway. It jumps and bites horse leg hanging in the air and hangs on there for a long time and at that time Aslan weighed 250 kg himself. Of course they have to have extremely strong bite, when looking at size of the prey they have to suffocate time to time. It would be impossible to hang on the throat of some fighting cape buffalo if not really strong bite. Whatever some tests or studies tell, there are many hints of the true power if looking at some of these things and thinking a bit what it demands.

I agree fully. Methodology plays a big factor for several reasons as well. When talking bite force of lions, you have to also, I believe, take into account muscle stamina. I lion who suffocates their prey requires a lot more stamina in their jaw muscles, as opposed to say a hyena or painted dog, who are less concerned about killing their prey prior to ingesting it. Using your example, the amount of time required to suffocate a bull buffalo with be much greater than say a small antelope. When sofocating a buffalo, the lion must maintain extreme levels of pressure for an extended period of time. Unless, of course, tonic immobility has occurred, then it could affect those times as well. I've never heard of tonic immobility in a Cape Buffalo though, not sure if it can affect them too or not. Reply