Lions attack hippo, rare photos

Adam Khor

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/07/pictures/120710-lions-hippopotamus-south-africa-attack-rare-animals-science/

Galvasean

Poor hippo

Mickeroo

Galvasean wrote: »

Poor hippo

Yeah, looks like it took quite a while too. Can't imagine its something lions would go for too regularly.

Kess73

Looks like a young hippo, certainly nowhere near being a full sized adult. There is no sign of the enlarged lower canines and incisors that an adult would have, and unless the lions in the pic are some kind of new giant species the hippo's physical size suggest that it is a pretty young juvenile.


Have a feeling that the same lions would not have gotten joy from a full sized adult, especially a bull.

Galwayguy35

Kess73 wrote: »

Looks like a young hippo, certainly nowhere near being a full sized adult. There is no sign of the enlarged lower canines and incisors that an adult would have, and unless the lions in the pic are some kind of new giant species the hippo's physical size suggest that it is a pretty young juvenile.


Have a feeling that the same lions would not have gotten joy from a full sized adult, especially a bull.

I did see a wildlife programme a few years ago where lions killed an adult female hippo but it was a large pride that did it.

I've seen programmes as well where they kill giraffes and even elephants, it's brutal but fascinating to watch at the same time.

Adam Khor

I wouldn´t be surprised if it was an adult hippo, tho. Hippos are formidable but they only have tusks in one end; lions can keep attacking its hindquarters (which is what they do when dealing with very large prey like elephants, large buffalo etc) until the hippo was tired and weak enough to bring it down.

Even more impressive are the cases of tigers (lone hunters) bringing down rhinos or elephants once in a while...

Mickeroo

Kess73 wrote: »

Looks like a young hippo, certainly nowhere near being a full sized adult. There is no sign of the enlarged lower canines and incisors that an adult would have, and unless the lions in the pic are some kind of new giant species the hippo's physical size suggest that it is a pretty young juvenile.


Have a feeling that the same lions would not have gotten joy from a full sized adult, especially a bull.

I did think it looked kind of small alright

dodderangler

Seen a programme before of a desperate pride attackin an injured hippo and they still couldn't kill it tho one main hunting lioness went for the hippo and the hippo grabbed her by the head and her lower tusk went into the lions lower jaw puncturing into her mouth
She died 6 days later through infection and fact she couldn't eat any food
So lions know through experience only to attack hippos in desperation as the outcome can cost the pride a death in the family
Same with elephants though there is a pride out there that are primarily elephant hunters and very successfull at it too
Atb

Birdnuts

dodderangler wrote: »

Same with elephants though there is a pride out there that are primarily elephant hunters and very successfull at it too
Atb

Sounds like that Pride in Chobe NP Botswana - some great photos of them hunting in the National Geographic a few years back:cool:

Adam Khor

There was a documentary on the elephant-hunting lions some time ago. It was narrated in a semi-poetic way but that didn´t make it any less disturbing. Because the elephants are so big it takes a long time for the lions to kill it and even I (used to seeing predator kills on TV) felt it was a little bit too sad





Oh and here's another with a larger hippo:



A hungry lion will tackle anything...

dodderangler

Great photos there mate
But that is the reason for being top of the food chain in Africa
And lions are family aswell do they look after each other until another rogue comes along and takes over the pride
Anyone see the video of the croc attackin the elephant grabbing it by the trunk?

dodderangler

Here it is
Sorry for going off topic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Y0gTDXrwQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Birdnuts

Great scenes there Adam - I can just imagine Sabre Tooth Cats, Wooly Mammaths etc. doing similiar battles in primival Europe,America etc. That is why Africa is so special as its the last bastion of the planets megafauna - though for how long more that will be is becoming increasingly uncertain as exploding human/livestock populations steadily encroach into the continents last remaining wilderness areas.

Galwayguy35

I wonder did the American Lion attack Mammoth the same way as the lion takes on elephants today.
I read somewhere that the American Lion could weight up to 1000lbs so it must have been able to tackle them.

Adam Khor

Birdnuts wrote: »

Great scenes there Adam - I can just imagine Sabre Tooth Cats, Wooly Mammaths etc. doing similiar battles in primival Europe,America etc. That is why Africa is so special as its the last bastion of the planets megafauna - though for how long more that will be is becoming increasingly uncertain as exploding human/livestock populations steadily encroach into the continents last remaining wilderness areas.

I'm pretty sure scenes such as the ones above would've been much common back in the sabertooth's day. Some scientists say that sabertooths probably "only attacked young (mammoths, mastodons, giant sloths" and avoided adults, but seeing how lions and (to a lesser extent, but still) tigers attack giant herbivores, I think sabertooths most likely did so with greater frequency. They were, after all, much better equipped. Killing an elephant will take a lion or tiger a long time- a sabertooth would cause one or more deep wounds and the victim would be finished much faster. I don´t buy the "conservative" idea that sabertooths carefully bit their victim's throat. Felines and pantherines today manage to bite throats just fine with normal sized canines.

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

I wonder did the American Lion attack Mammoth the same way as the lion takes on elephants today.
I read somewhere that the American Lion could weight up to 1000lbs so it must have been able to tackle them.

They probably did, but remember American lions seemingly were mostly solitary. Smilodon was seemingly a "pack" hunter, and better equipped to deal with gigantic prey. :cool: