Asiatic Lion - Data, Pictures & Videos

[Pckts]

(04-30-2019, 10:30 PM)Sanju Wrote: @Pckts I know that there is lot of mega fauna in africa and also I do know that lions hunt and eat almost every animal on the savanna. Animals exceeding 1000 kg is not "being preyed that much often". They kill mainly zebra (avg ~ 350 kg) and wildebeest (~270 kg) and other antelopes. Gir Lions prey almost entirely on cattle & buffalo (~500 and max 1000 Kg) and almost everyday.

I didn't said gir lions are larger than largest lions on the planet (ngorongoro..), I used the term "African Lions" which includes all the lions on african continent. In reference to all of them "these days", these gir lions are equaling them. See the videos of those lions I'm posting in the thread.

Lions in Africa prey Zebra, Wildebeest, Cape and other antelopes regularly.

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*This image is copyright of its original author

The study was conducted between 2005 and 2007 in the northern sector of Hwange National Park (Hwange), north-western Zimbabwe
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0055182


"The most preferred weight of Lion prey is 350kg"
http://ibs.bialowieza.pl/g2/pdf/1595.pdf

Buffalo again being the most common prey item between the 3 "Zebra, Wildebeest and Cape"



But it'll depend on the Lions, you have Lions like the Notches who made a living off of Hippo's, you have Lions in Botswana that Kill Elephants, Lions in the Crater that feast off of mega sized Ungulates and Capes, etc.

In regards to Cattle, for one they are usually fairly small, not any larger than Wildebeest or Zebra usually looking much more malnourished and produce a much more unhealthy meat. 
For their average weight, Schaller describes them as 150kg 
 
https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2010.00780.x

And if you use the most common prey items, "Cattle 8%,  Buffalo 11%, Sambar 26% and  Chital 32%, your average prey weight would be less than 150kg which would be 200kg short of the African Lions mark. 



Just a quick example, this is in the Serengeti after the Great Migration had already passed, this heard of Cape was absolutely massive, we had to wait in or Jeep for 15-20 minutes while the entire herd passed by.

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And this was just from one small Watering Hole in Tarangire

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

You just don't see sights like this anywhere else on earth, India's wildlife is very sparse, spread out throughout the dense sal or teak, even places with larger watering holes like Tadoba don't accumulate near the vast quantity of life that they do in Africa. Reply