Lions vs. Buffalo
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The Lionesses have picked an old female Cape Buffalo as their target. The following 17 images depict the moment-to-moment action of these lionesses' seizure of the chosen buffalo. She appears vulnerable, but close inspection by the viewer shows that she is being protected by many bulls lined up behind her. Will they now charge the lionesses and drive off them off? The big bulls can be very formidable when they are aggressive! Lionesses risk injury whenever they hunt large, unpredictable prey! These scenes may seem very cruel to some, but the lions & lionesses have cubs and themselves to feed. There is no meat market to serve them. Actually, the carnivores do a useful service by ridding the herds of old and infirm individuals. [Duba Plains, Botswana].
As a Lioness approaches the old Buffalo, the cape buffalo bulls begin to assemble in the background. [Because a long focus lens (200 mm.) was used, the distance between the lionesses and the buffalo will appear closer than it really was--actually, about double the apparent distance]. [Duba Plains, Botswana].
The Lioness walks closer, and more Buffalo bulls gather behind her. [Duba Plains, Botswana].
Here is where the old buffalo made a fatal mistake---prompted by her great hate of lions, she charges the Lioness, hoping to use her horns. But this takes her another 100 feet or so further away from her protectors!
Her charge was easily averted by the more agile Lioness. It accomplished nothing but increasing her vulnerability and more quickly sealing her fate. [Duba Plains, Botswana].
A 2nd Lioness joins the attack: There is also a fairly solid line of bulls in the background, but none of the bulls seem willing to take the initiative of leading a charge against the lionesses?
While the buffalo is focused on the Lioness in front of her, a second one sneaks up behind her. [Duba Plains, Botswana].
A Lioness jumps on the old buffalo's back. (An adult lioness like this one probably weighs around 250 pounds). A big load for the female buffalo to support! Note that the lioness, in addition to using her prehensile claws, uses her jaws and teeth to grab the skin and fur along the spine to secure her grip. Still no action from the bulls! [Duba Plains, Botswana].
A second Lioness climbs onto the buffalo's back: Still no reaction from the bulls. This is strange, because 5 minutes ago, they were nudging and surrounding her to keep her close to them!. But the situation has changed! Seeing that the lionesses are about to have the buffalo on the ground, the chance for the bulls to intervene successfully has been lost! And they might have been deterred by having seen or smelled the other lionesses and lions nearby? The buffalo is constantly crying out since the lionesses first seized her. [Duba Plains, Botswana].
The buffalo is down, and a 3rd lioness has joined the attack. It looks like the bulls are going to leave the old female to her fate---and she knows that she's a goner! After the first lioness seized her, she moaned and squealed continuously, probably from fright and from the pain of the lionesses bites on her back. [Duba Plains, Botswana].
Now that the buffalo is on the ground, the three lionesses have begun to eat her flesh. We could hear her loud groans and plaintive calls for help. [Duba Plains, Botswana].
The buffalo has been rolled onto her back to facilitate grabbing her throat in their jaws and crushing shut the trachea (windpipe). (Suffocation is the main carnivore method of killing its prey). The lionesses are also already busy opening the abdomen to access the solid organs and muscle.
There were five Lionesses: one Lioness is crushing the buffalo's throat, while the others are working to open the abdomen. [Duba Plains, Botswana].
Each of the 5 Lionesses pick an area. A buffalo's skin and abdominal fascia are thick and very tough. It takes an animal with very strong jaws, like a lion's or hyena's, to chew through these tissues.The buffalo bulls still only watch, but I am sure they realize that it's too late to rescue her.
Two adult Lions have joined the feast: One of the big males has taken over finishing the strangulation of the buffalo. He is waiting for the buffalo's heart to stop so that he can eat. [Duba Plains, Botswana].
One of the lions snarls at a Lioness. Note the Lioness has lowered her head--a gesture of submission. Both large males have now joined the eating of the buffalo. [Duba Plains, Botswana].
All the pride adults are feeding: Note the intestinal contents on the ground, which means that the lionesses had succeeded in broaching the abdominal wall and had removed the intestines to access the muscle of the abdominal wall, its contents, and the chest contents. The lioness at the buffie's head has removed the soft tissue under the jaw to access the tongue--a delicacy! This whole event of the take-down lasted about 5 minutes. After I took these pictures, we left the scene, but returned in mid-afternoon. There remained only the rib-cage and the long bones, with some tags of meat! This big lion pride requires a large-sized kill about every 3 days. There are undoubtedly cubs and juveniles 'back home' to be fed! Feeding such a large pride requires a large prey. It is common for a large pride of lions to keep in easy reach of a large buffalo herd. [Duba Plains, Botswana].
