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Home Animals Double Bad Luck: Crocs Attack Buck After It Escapes Lion

Double Bad Luck: Crocs Attack Buck After It Escapes Lion

Share this incredible sighting with your friends:There were some tense sightings for Michaela Crous in Manyoni Private Game Reserve on 16 April, 2024, when the group came across a lioness in the middle of hunting a tasty looking nyala. At first it seemed like it would be a classic predator versus prey situation, but things…

Oscar Betts
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There were some tense sightings for Michaela Crous in Manyoni Private Game Reserve on 16 April, 2024, when the group came across a lioness in the middle of hunting a tasty looking nyala. At first it seemed like it would be a classic predator versus prey situation, but things continued to escalate for the unlucky nyala.

Lions are ambush predators built for bursts of speed, and this one was certainly putting that build to the test as it gave chase to the nyala it had come across at the waterhole.

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Good Old Fashioned Stand Off

At first, the lion seemed like it was sure to get a tasty meal, but this nyala was able to remain cool under pressure and evade it long enough to go somewhere the lioness seemed unwilling to follow. If only the nyala buck had thought a little more about why, it might have decided that its escape attempt wasn’t so successful after all.

Lightning Reflexes Striking Twice

Unfortunately for the nyala, the lioness wasn’t the only ambush predator which had a meal in its sights on that day. It’s plan to wait out the lion in the water was foiled dramatically by the arrival of a hungry, or maybe territorial, crocodile.

Crocodiles are capable of powerful bursts of speed just as much as lions are, even more so underwater where their strong tails can propel them almost three times as fast as humans can swim. The nyala had already managed to escape the lion, but now it was facing a much older predator.

Oldest Predators

Crocodiles are one of the oldest predators on the planet, being such successful hunters that they haven’t had any need to evolve for hundreds of millions of years. They’re also extremely territorial animals capable of taking fast and decisive action when anything, whether it’s human, lion, or nyala, comes near their waters.

Regardless, the croc wasn’t quick enough to catch the nyala which sprang away at the slightest sign of trouble. The croc didn’t seem particularly interested in giving chase which would suggest that this was more of a territorial attack, or maybe an opportunistic attempt, rather than a concerted hunting effort.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

With the crocodiles posing a threat in the water, and the lioness patiently waiting on land, the nyala buck’s escape attempt had turned into a very risky scenario.

Even prey animals are ready to fight if they’ve been backed into a corner, and this nyala was definitely desperate. An injured lion is one which can’t hunt or feed itself, so regardless of how dangerous the lioness is, the nyala did find itself with the upper hand in the end.

Big Bad Buck

Despite chasing it into the water, and then having a second opportunity when the buck was forced to flee the crocs, the lion eventually seemed to have no other option but to leave this buck alone, as it was just not worth the trouble of trying to eat.

Exhausted, no doubt, but victorious, the nyala buck had won the right to live another day.


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