You can watch the sighting video here:
Victoria Craddock and Chad Hobson recorded this delicate interaction while on a game drive at Mala Mala Game Reserve.
Age-old stand-off
The pair explain that they had followed a pride of lions trapped between two angry buffalo herds. As mortal enemies, buffalo have no love for lions and will actively harass lions in their vicinity.
The lions, in turn, occasionally charged the buffalos, perhaps hoping to single out their next meal.
Chaotic mix-up
Amid the chaos, a young lion climbed a small tree, likely to avoid being trampled.
Consequently, this error of judgment would haunt the lion. As Victoria and Chad recount, “The tree he climbed was not by any means big enough, and he scrambled to keep himself out of reach of thrashing horns.”
With their quarry at bay, the buffalo remained below the tree for over an hour.
A snarl and a swipe
Whenever the buffalo got to close, the lion would snarl at them, occasionally lashing out at them with its paws.
Too close for comfort
As seen in the images, the lion was only barely out of the buffalo’s reach. So tantalisingly close, in fact, that on a few occasions the buffalo approached to get a good whiff of their nemesis.
That the buffalo remained so intent on the buffalo bears testimony to the intense dislike they have for Africa’s largest predator.
With very rare exceptions, lions are their only predator.
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Low-hanging fruit
So, when the opportunity came to damage this young male’s chances of adding to the lion population, one buffalo appeared unable to resist the temptation to relieve it of its dangling genitalia.
Predictably, when the lion sensed something was about to go horribly wrong back there, he swiftly drew in his hindquarter and the buffalo moved off.
I’m out of here
In any event, some time later, when the buffalos were preoccupied with some of the other lions, the young male took the opportunity to leap from the tree.
With his dignity–and family jewels–still intact, he leapt from his flimsy perch to rejoin the pride. Whether or not he chose to share this potentially embarrassing experience with his compatriots is open to debate.
When prey fight back
The life-or-death interactions between predators and prey play out daily in the African bush. And, as seen in this encounter, it doesn’t always go the way of the predators.
In fact, lions are only successful in about a third of their attempted hunts. More often than not, their efforts are foiled when they are outrun or outmanoeuvred.
Prey species may also close ranks and collectively intimidate predators, as seen in this video. This is particularly the case where the intended prey has a significant size and numerical advantage over the predator.
This all goes to show that in Nature, it is not just about fangs or claws. Those with the strongest will to survive often emerge as victors. And, sometimes, even lions can be made to look vulnerable.