Lion Predation

[Spalea]

Beverly Joubert : " An impenetrable wall of megaherbivores - elephants in a defensive stance keeping their young hidden in the centre of their tight group. They're the most difficult animal for a lion to hunt, but elephants make sure not to underestimate the power of these carnivores - especially when the grass is dry and their condition is not at their peak. ".

Thank to an old account in the National Geographic magazine during the 1990's, 1994 more precisely, and written by Robert & Beverly Joubert, I learnt that the lions are able to regularly hunt the elephants at a precise place of Afrika: the Savuti Park in Botswana. In short, during the drought periods the current lions' preys migrated into less dry places and around the dried water resources, lions and elephants were facing each other. At first the lions killed the cubs but step by step they started to kill some subadult elephants and some adult females. According to the Joubert's account during the drought periods the elephants constitute 20% of the lions' diet... Reply