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Lion Predation
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Pride of lions killing hippo
 *This image is copyright of its original author
"Fresh Kill" by Lee Whittam of Essential Africa Guided Safaris.
 *This image is copyright of its original author
Photo and information credits: Armand Grobler Photography
"Lioness feeding on a live rhino... Incredibly sad and moving sighting, something I will never forget."  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
They said the rhino had a broken back, possibly from rhino conflict or an elephant or disease. An autopsy is being done, I'd be curious what caused it, just hoping it's anything but poaching.
Elsa Theron de Kock:
We had the privilege to witness this once in a lifetime event on Saturday 30 April, early morning at Mazithi dam!! They were 5 lions at first, a male and female left before the actual killing happened.We suspect they were a mating couple and love came first!! Two males killed the buffalo with the third one looking on, he was limping and could not participate. 
@Ngala:
A possible connection with the #356: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9xUIDwj3xw Male lion and lioness feeding on a rhino corpse while a cub want to play with one or the other one... (05-13-2016, 11:41 AM)Spalea Wrote: @Ngala: Good find @Spalea, i think it's the same interaction of the photos. Very nice. Thank you! 
about #355 and #362 photo:
Yes, the lion's body seems to be tarpered, streamlined, like a sculpture... Awesome ! Especially as he just brings a buffalo cub in his mouth, this is not a remarkable performance for him. Lions can have a very dried body in wild.
Video showing a group of tourists being at the wrong place at the wrong time as 2 male lions take their chance at buffaloes, chasing the herd right into a spectating vehicle.
Taken on the H1-4 near Olifants in the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Video by: Penny Osborne 
Buffalo are enormous, powerful beasts and their horns can impale a lion if it isn’t careful. On this day the pride stalked an old buffalo bull until they were within a short distance. Acting as a team, one of them startled the bull while the other hid, waiting for the right moment to attack. Then the lioness, in a giant leap of faith, leapt onto the bull’s back! - See more at: http://africageographic.com/blog/lion-hunting-buffalo-ruaha/#sthash.EYJd1dga.dpuf
Two male lions on their kill. http://www.roxannereid.co.za/blog/lions-at-a-kill-mountain-zebra-national-park What a picture  *This image is copyright of its original author A great video showing a lioness taking down an adult cow buffalo and the cow was pregnant. This video shows the power and determination a lioness has. I believe female lions would kill more buffalo if the herds were not as big as they are. Buffalo herds can be in the 1,000's. This is the main reason that an attempt at a buffalo normally does not end in favor of the lion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq4CsRoZDxQ&feature=youtu.be
"I believe female lions would kill more buffalo if the herds were not as big as they are. Buffalo herds can be in the 1,000's. This is the main reason that an attempt at a buffalo normally does not end in favor of the lion."
The reason lions predate on buffalo as much as they do is because of the herd sizes, buffalo makes up a huge amount of lions prey. Yes a large herd will come to the aid, that certainly doesn't happen every time though. Also the large herd sizes means more young, old, injured and sick, which all equal more prey available. The large herds have allowed lions to be the only cat that forms prides, the flip side is Gir, where prey is more scattered which has caused the lions to live in much smaller prides. Quote:Anybody who has seen a documentary "knows" that lions hunt cooperatively to bring down prey. Unfortunately, nobody seems to have told the lions this. Indeed, for many years field biologists who study lions have realized that cooperative hunting is an illusion. The naturalist George Shaller figured this out in the late 1960s with the first quantitative field study. He found that a single lion has a success rate of 15% on a given hunt—or about one successful hunt for every seven. Two lions have a success of 29%, which is 3% LESS successful than if the two lions with 15% individual success hunted by themselves (32.2%). Three lions get 27%, or 2% less than two lions. Four, five and six lions get 32% - meaning that they are (finally) as successful as sending two lions out by themselves. There is clearly no statistical value to hunting in groups. Quote:Buffalo are quite impressive animals. They are very brave and will not hesitate to attack lions when they can. When one buffalo has been knocked down by lions, the buffalo herd will almost always attempt a rescue—charging in to drive the lions away. This succeeds a large fraction of the time—even if the buffalo has been down for 30 minutes. Of course if the buffalo herd surrounded the lions when they were sleeping and just methodically trampled them to death, their whole problem would be over, but there is no buffalo general to lead them in such an endeavor. Alternatively, if the buffalo had a bit more skill at rounding up the herd, they'd never leave some separated which is what the lions look for. We know single lions can take down buffalo alone, so no they don't really need a pride to hunt them. I'm just stating I believe it would be more common for lions to make a buffalo kill if the herd wouldn't defend. Most I'd say 7/10 or more videos and accounts we see with kills, the herd does defend. This seems to me to be the main factor imo. Of course there is other factors, some lions can't kill a buffalo even when its by itself, and sometimes they can. |
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