As apex predators, lions exist at the top of the food chain, and while there are some predators that might attack an undefended lion cub, adults enjoy the status that comes with being one of the deadliest killing machines.
It must have then come as a shock to a group of curious lion cubs, when a crab barely the size of their paws dared to challenge this supremacy in broad daylight.
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Two rangers, 30-year-old Ruggiero Barreto, and 27-year-old Robyn Sewell captured this unlikely interaction on camera in the MalaMala Game Reserve, as a lone little crab defied the most dangerous predators it would ever meet.
Out Of Its Depth
Ruggiero and Robyn told Latest Sightings that they “left the camp at sun rise with the hope of finding lions and were lucky enough to find a pride at a riverbank”.
A pride of lions wasn’t all they’d found, as they noticed a tiny crab hurriedly trying to make it across the Mlowathi Riverbed, out of its depth among the comparatively enormous cats.
These crabs typically only make this journey after nightfall, and this unlucky crustacean was just now finding out why. It didn’t stand a chance of making it to its burrow before the young lions noticed it.
Curiosity Killed The Cat
As soon as they’d seen it, the lions had to go and get a closer look to investigate this tiny animal they’d likely never seen before. Quickly, two of the lions were closely following the crab as it made a break for its burrow.
This was probably bad for the crab’s stress levels which were likely already quite high. It had its little claws held up ready to defend itself if it needed to, but these would only be mild deterrents to the lions.
No Escape
The crab was dashing through the sand as quickly as its legs could carry it, but those legs were very small, and the lions could easily keep up with it, poking their noses close to it, no doubt trying to work out exactly what they were seeing.
Those noses were soft, and although the crab didn’t get the chance to pinch any of them with its claws to force them to back off, if the lions forced it then it was ready to fight.
The lions looked unlikely to lose interest anytime soon, but they could surely tell that those claws were sharp, and they didn’t fancy getting their noses or soft paws nipped, so they did little more than follow it.
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Small But Mighty
As more and more lions came, the escape route for the crab got slimmer and slimmer. It was only a few feet away from the safety of its burrow now, but it was almost completely surrounded by curious cats.
The crustacean didn’t have any options other than to slow down and keep its claws high in the air in case it needed to use them. It would have been a very one way fight, but at least the crab might surprise its enemies before it was completely defeated.
Luckily for the crab, before it had fulled stopped, there was an opening in the wall of lions, and the crab shot through it to the safety of its burrow where it must have heaved the mightiest of crab sighs.