[quote]Dedicated wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Someone more knowledgeable in animal hunting strategy explain to me why the lions are such a bunch of wimps?
I mean, it looked like some standard action movie, except that you get animals instead of human actors.
There are 10 or so lions.
Instead of using their numbers to bring the hippo down… A single lion “attacks” it while the others kind of hang around and cheer it on or something.
(and the lion can’t seem to decide whether to bite or lick the hippo apologetically, either)
My experience with animals and their “combat” behavior is limited to my dogs, so I have no idea why the lion’s don’t attack in a more fierce fashion (or why the hippo just sits there and doesn’t do anything most of the time , with two notable exceptions and his occasional running away).
They have to attack from the rear and only so many have room. You saw what happened to the lion that got too close to the front/mouth. Also, animals which depend on staying healthy to survive will let other more foolhardy ones attack a dangerous animal like a hippo and hang back and conserve energy and limbs/life whenever possible.
They must have really been hungry in the first place to go after a hippo as they are one of the most dangerous animals in Africa along with the Elephant, Rhino, and Cape Buffalo.
D
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Definitely. It’s hard to imagine it sometimes, but when TV narrarators talking about everyday being ‘a struggle for survival,’ they’re really not joking. If a Lion expends too much energy (especially fighting something as impractical as a Hippo,) and collapses from exhaustion, you can bet he’s going to be left behind and become a tasty snack for a hyena. The pride must continue on some way or another - and that’s shown by (as Dedicated mentioned) their apparent desparate need for food.
That was a very old dying hippo who could barely walk around. I saw the whole video, after the attack, he turned around and chased away the lions. Then he walked over to some watering hole the next day and died there.
Its quite obvious from the vid lol, the lions actually chewed for 2-3 hours before the hippo realized they were there.
Yup…all things being equal, not much can kill a healthy, mature ( not old and dying ) hippo. If a male lion jumps on a hippos back and starts to naw at it, all the hippo has to do is walk into deeper water and submerge…end of story. Mr. Lion is swimming back to land…if he makes it.
Lions are smart and seldom prey on healthy, strong animals that weigh 5-7 times as much as them. Even when they attack cape buffalos, they always single out either a young one or an old and dying one. If they tried to kill a healthy one, they are in a world of hurt even if they outnumber it 10-1. I saw a video where a mother cape buffalo defended her calf from a pack of lions until the herd showed up. After that, the lions went away after being terroized and chased by the male buffalos.
