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Lion Predation
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 Sunday, 28 October 2012
Buffalo vs Lion  *This image is copyright of its original author Mikumi NP is the closest national park in terms of distance from Dar es Salaam, which makes it an attractive option as a weekend away for residents. Having said that, we've only been there twice, but our second trip gave us one of our best action sequences in the bush... lion vs buffalo.  *This image is copyright of its original author We spent 2 nights at Mikumi, and had seen plenty of antelope, elephant, buffalo, and even caught of a leopard at night near our bungalow. We'd also tracked down a pair of mating lions - well not hard to track, since they were in the main game viewing area of the park. After our 2 nights, we were to head out on Sunday morning, so decided to centre our last game drive around this popular area.  *This image is copyright of its original author Because we started first thing in the morning, we were rewarded to find 4 lions on the road, and with only one other car around - quite a change as this is the area where everyone is allowed to get out there car - making it quite a noisy place.  *This image is copyright of its original author It was the mating pair we had seen the previous day, and another 2 lionesses, just hanging on the road. They leisurely walked down the road like they owned it
 before heading to the side where there is an steep climb down to an empty river bed. We thought they may cross it so headed around to the other side, hoping to carry on following. *This image is copyright of its original author But they had other ideas and when we arrived we found that they'd gone back up the opposite side and were rest on the side of the bank. After a while, they didn't seem like they were going to move much, so we headed back across the dry bed and onto Hippo Pools, where we spent some relaxing time with a herd of elephants that had come to drink at the waterhold.  *This image is copyright of its original author But it wasn't going to take too long for us to get back to the lions :) We arrived just as a herd of buffalo had arrived on the other side of the bank. They seemed to know that there were lions about, because they were tightly bunched together and pretty alert. Just as well, because one of the lionesses decided to take a chance and snuck up the bank, trying to catch the buffalo by suprise and scatter them.  *This image is copyright of its original author It worked to a degree, and the buffalo ran... but only a few metres, before turning around and charging her - that's when she turned tail (well the part of the tail that she had) and ran! You always think of the king of the jungle as fearless, so it's pretty amusing to see a fully grown lioness running away... But she was not going to be put off and did this quite a few times. Of course, now the buffalo were ready for her, and charged her back each time.  *This image is copyright of its original author The other lions obviously didn't think this was worth pursuing, because they hardly raised their heads, but the lone lioness persisted for about 40 minutes, each time without reward, and eventually even she gave up and joined her sisters in the bush. We were happy with the action we'd seen, but there was a twist in the tail... While we'd been watching the herd on the far side, there was actually another herd of buffalo on the same side we were that had gone to drink at the waterhole, and were now headed back to what looked like directly in the path of the lions. We could see that they wanted to cross over to the other side where the other buffalo herd was still standing and watching. The herd seemed to be unsure, but that may have been because of the cars around - quite a few had come up to watch the lion / buffalo interaction and it looked like the buffalo were more nervous about crossing through the cars, than taking on a few lions  *This image is copyright of its original author So by mutual agreement and a fair amount of hand gestures, we juggled the cars around until there was a wide berth that would allow the buffalo to cross if they wanted. And so it started...  *This image is copyright of its original author The buffalo herd started to get a bit bolder closing in on the lions that were still under the bushes. And the lions were starting to become more alert, putting their heads up as if to assess whether a chase was worth it... And it seemed to be because 2 of the lionesses got up and headed towards the buffalo - then started chasing!  *This image is copyright of its original author Of course we expected a panic and buffalo to scatter everywhere, but after a few steps the whole herd turned around as one, and headed straight back towards the 2 lionesses. It wasn't a fair fight The lions took off! One big bull in particular seemed to have decided that he wasn't taking any backward steps and charged the lionesses. With tails between their legs, they slinked back to the other lions...  *This image is copyright of its original author But not for long... one of the lionesses was back heading for the herd, and the same thing played out again - lion charge, buffalo run, buffalo turn, lion run :) This interaction went on for about half an hour, with 5 or 6 mock charges from both sides; even the male lion got involved, but not for long before he headed back to the shade of his bush - lazy... would rather watch the lionesses do the dirty work  *This image is copyright of its original author And then something we didn't expect at all happened... The lead bull decided that enough was enough, and a few lions wasn't going to stop him from getting to the other side. With him leading the charge, all hell broke loose. A massive wall of buffalo stormed towards the lions, past them, down into the dry riverbed and up to the other side. It was just a massive cloud of dust and the sound of hooves beating as a 50 strong buffalo herd powered through - it was unbelievable!  *This image is copyright of its original author Stunned, we watched this all unfold until the last buffalo had crossed up the bank and reached the other side. The herd stopped, looked back and then slowly moved off as the dust settled. The first question we had was what happened to the lions? It had all happened so fast, were the lions caught by suprise just like we were?  *This image is copyright of its original author After a bit of a mad jostle with the cars to get to the edge of the bank we finally looked down, and there in the river bank were the 3 lionesses... with a young buffalo - they'd managed to get one! How they did it we have no idea - maybe one of the buffalo had tripped on the way down, or maybe the lions had risked been trampled by the herd to grab one, but the end result was that they had caught and killed one - it was amazing to think that they had managed it.  *This image is copyright of its original author For the next 30 minutes we watched the lionesses devour their prey; most interesting was that the male lion was nowhere to be seen in all of this - we eventually found him about 50 meters away resting under a tree. Strange to think that he wouldn't try and grab his lion's share :)  *This image is copyright of its original author All in all, it was an amazing sequence of events, from the build up with the original herd of buffalo, through the standoff and then to see such a charge by the buffalo. For those that have written off Mikumi, don't - while it may not seem as "wild" as the other parks, the animals still are, and it makes for fantastic wildlife viewing! 
Lioness killing a Kudu.
http://footage.framepool.com/en/shot/158...y-catching We had just arrived at the waterhole for breakfast, to find 2 lionesses lying at the water. They suddenly perked up and we saw kudu coming in to drink. The one female moved into cover carefully and lay in wait. The pregnant female crouched at the waterhole. A young kudu cow walked straight up to where they were lying and in a couple of strides, she was caught. She fought, but did not manage to get away. The second female joined in to pull the kudu down, and they lay for ages until the kudu stopped kicking. After a long while the one female dragged the carcass into the shade of a nearby tree, and then they both lay down and ignored it!! Next we saw a warthog trotting down the road further up. One lioness got up and circled the pig, then ambushed her. She managed to get away. Next came her 3 little piglets a little way behind her. The lionesses pounced and caught one, much squealing and it managed to get away. The chase was on. The piglet ran into a thick thorn bush, and the lioness tried to dig her out. We watched in amazement as the small piglet then kept launching herself at the lioness from the bush!! This went on for quite some time, with the lioness jumping back each time, until finally she caught the little pig in mid jump. Lots of squealing and then silence. We had 5 guests here, and the cameras were clicking madly! Some fabulous photos all round. Breakfast was almost ignored, tea went cold – far too much excitement!! The guests stayed to watch for some time and finally the lionesses opened up the kudu stomach, and pulled out a foetus. So sad, but nature at its best. They did not eat much at all – they just were not hungry – pure opportunistic kills! http://smartholidays.co.za/archives/1553 A nice hunt done by two females on a kudu bull. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxlf4WI2U8Y Single lioness predation on kudu bull https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTZS5dBx15M  (05-20-2016, 01:17 AM)Pckts Wrote: "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." Not only Gir..in fact lions form smaller prides or couples everywhere buffalo DO NOT OCCUR ( Kalahari, Namib, Congo, Atlas mountains, and the former Asian range of lions), in the range that millions of buffalo occupied in Africa lions evolved to form large prides ruled by subsequent large male coalitions to hold prime territories that usually have buffalo herds, an important reason since the larger prides monopolize predation on buffalo and mega fauna and lessen the opportunity of other lions to access this resource ( and to a lesser degree the other predators extant and extinct). Peterhans and Gnoske even suggested two classification for lions in the Tsavo area : buffalo lions (who are specialist buffalo hunters who live in woodlands and riverine forests and are larger 210-240 kg) and plain lions (who live on the plains, hunt antelopes and zebra, and are smaller 180-220 kg). While I do not agree, all lions are lions it sheds the light on the importance of buffalo for the feeding ecology of lions. As for cooperative hunting the only "proof" of coordinated hunting of any lion prey was for the springbok in Etosha NP by Flip Stander, the 50kg springbok can reach speed of over 85km/hour and to hunt in an arid area with little cover like Etosha excludes ambush opportunities so lions need team work and they copy the formation of a rugby team with smaller faster lionesses ( the wings ) chasing the springbok towards larger ambushing lionesses ( the centers ). In other areas and with other prey it seems that each lion is attempting the hunt on its own and somehow smaller contributions tip the balance while most of the leg work is done by one individual. I think that this is still a research in progress and the final understanding og the lion hunting behavior is not yet fully understood.
Awesome hunt by a lone male lion on an injured adult cow. After the kill, both males kill the calf together.
http://safarisightings.com/latest-sightings/lion/male-lion-taking-down-female-buffalo/ Male lion shows his females how its done taking down a buffalo. 
This is rare sight, 2 male lion form Gir, India feeding on domestic cow kill.
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
A mammoth effort from one of our coalition male Lions - Shadow, has managed to bring down a huge Eland bull. He has been on the kill for the last few days with hundreds of kilograms of meat at his paws. We estimate shadow to be around 220-230kg's but that is tiny compared to the possible 700 - 800 Kg Eland bull in picture. He has done well to keep other scavengers off so far to have this feast all to himself - we wonder for how long...
 *This image is copyright of its original author https://www.pinterest.com/pin/38210296809422420/ Tim Smith Rumours about a Lion kill at lake giraffe came true when Ranger Jerimia and myself found a big male Lion feasting on the adult Kudu carcass. For me it was special as i have not seen this big guy since the start of the year. Minizil is not the biggest male but he did show his power by dragging and flipping the kudu around a few times before finishing one of his many courses of Kudu meat. He then proceeded to go and sleep in the shade 100 metres away with a meat coma  *This image is copyright of its original author https://www.pinterest.com/pin/38210296809884208/ 
@TheLioness: about # 374
Video showing a male lion killing on his own an adult male eland. You can see this male lion has lost an eye, but ultimate warriors will never die ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3WdbNZD6QM
Yes I have seen that video before, an excellent video. Awesome power, makes it more interesting that he is missing an eye too. :)
Credits to Mala Mala Game Reserve:
The Sand River pride and the Toulon male treated us to an adrenaline filled sighting as we watched them bring down 2 buffalo in Charleston. It's a video. Click on it to play.
Credits to Mala Mala Game Reserve.
We witnessed yet another double buffalo kill today as the Eyrefield pride and 2 Matshapiri males brought down a cow and calf north of Rattray's Camp. Video by ranger Lucky Makukula. Click on it to play.  (03-16-2016, 06:28 AM)Spalea Wrote:(03-16-2016, 05:45 AM)stoja9 Wrote: Every time I see a video like this I think back to all the books and tv programs there were when I was a kid (1980's) and they all said the same thing - male lions were basically lazy bums who were only there for fighting and mating and that lionesses did 95% of the hunting. They always painted a picture that male lions would basically starve to death without lionesses hunting for them. Male lions are good hunters specially when they are loners or in groups of bachelors, however, when they live in a pride, sometimes they prefer to eat in a served table, or collaborate with the ladies. Here is a interesting statement about the male lions been good hunters, from the book of Dr Hunter of 2015.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Take in count that the male Indian lion is a complete loner (except when it is in a coalition with other male) and do not hunt (or live) with the females, so almost he hunt for himself all the time.
Pride of lion feeding over dead Elephant
 *This image is copyright of its original author
@GuateGojira:
About #379: In the very interesting account you put here, the authors mentions the great apes predation by lion like gorillas and chimpanzees (at the bottom of the first text column). Very surprising because lions don't live or enter into deep forests ! But perhaps possible several decades ago... Do you have not anymore additionnal data or precisions ?
From Mala Mala today:
July 10th. 2 lion sightings: the Eyrefield pride and one of the Matshapiri males were found with a buffalo cow kill near Styx Waterhole. The other Matshapiri male wasn't too far away and had a buffalo kill of his own. 
Photo and information credits: Sudhir Shivaram Nature & Wildlife Photography
"Masai Mara - Lioness on a Wildebeest kill - Photographed from a Balloon.."  *This image is copyright of its original author
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