We should all know why the chicken crossed the road by now, but these lions might have had a more novel reason. Their goal was not to simply get to the other side.
Neels van Jaarsveld caught the footage of these lions crossing the road in the Kruger National Park, and sent it to Latest Sightings. The lions had a specific purpose in mind, even if it was a bit of an unexpected one.
The Other Side And Up The Tree
The road had several vehicles on it, although all of them had come to a stop to observe the big cats as they passed through. This meant it was completely safe for the lions to cross, and they took their time with it.
These cubs weren’t brand new balls of fluff interacting with the world for the first time, but they’d grown a little into miniature versions of the deadly predators they would soon become, and they prowled through the brush to the base of the tree.
It was only then that their goal became obvious as they began to scramble up into the tree’s lower branches where they settled down to idly watch the cars pass by and play some lazy games.
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Out Of Their Comfort Zone
Of the big cats lions are not actually the best at climbing trees. This skill is reserved for leopards which rely on their climbing abilities to keep themselves and their food safe.
Lions have no essential need for climbing, except for annoying leopards, so although they can pull it off as this footage shows, they tend to stay in the lower branches, and only climb trees which have grown at an angle.
As for why they would climb when there doesn’t appear to be any benefit, well, sometimes the experience alone is the benefit, like for these cubs which were having a great time relaxing in the tree branches.
As Good A Place As Any
Despite only staying in the lower tree branches, these lions also got to benefit from an elevated viewpoint from which they could survey the surrounding area. This would help them identify potential threats and prey.
Or at least, the lions that actually made it into the tree benefited from this. It seemed that not all of these small big cats had perfected the art of climbing yet, and some of the cubs remained scrabbling around the base of the trunk.
But even these lions made it up there in the end and all of the big cats seemed to enjoy being in the tree simply for the sake of having somewhere to rest that wasn’t on the ground.
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What Goes Up Must Come Down
Once they’d all made it up into the branches, the lions spent a bit of time there before they eventually had to come back down. The adults of the pride had arrived by now and they guided the youngsters back across the road.
The great beasts had had their time to relax and it was time to get back to their more normal daily activities. Searching for food would likely be high on their list, and off they went, crossing the road once more with their departure.
