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It was Pieter van Wyk that captured the sighting of the unfortunate buck in the MalaMala Game Reserve, recording its struggle against the pack of wild dogs that had it in their sights.
It looked like Pieter was about to be a witness to some of the true gruesomeness inherent in a predator and prey scenario.
The buck was in a bad situation with the dogs attacking from multiple directions, and it seemed like there was no hope for it to escape, until the intervention of a nearby hippo.
From Bad To Worse
An unlikely savior, the hippo managed to get to the buck and scare away the dogs before they could pull it apart. This would have given the buck the perfect chance to make its escape, if a reflexive bound hadn’t taken it straight into the thick mud.
Effectively trapped, the buck could do nothing but wait in the mud while the dogs surrounded it from every angle, and after its initial aid the hippo seemed unlikely to do anything at all.
Being pulled apart by hungry dogs would have been a particularly vicious end, but slowly sinking and suffocating or starving while trapped in that mud wouldn’t have been any more appealing.
Uncontested Strength
If the dogs thought they would have a long wait, though, they were mistaken. Hippos are very territorial creatures, and even though it saved the buck initially, this one quickly ended up having more of the invaders than it could stand.
Before the buck even knew what was happening, it was caught in the powerful jaws of the hippo which shook it like a rag doll before casting it aside, completely still, on the nearby bank and within the reach of the eager dogs.
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Fortune Favors The Bold
The dogs are clearly split between overstaying their own welcome, and getting a hold of the buck they’ve been hunting. It only takes one to get close enough to pull the buck away while the others keep a wary eye on the hippo.
And it’s not without good reason. Hippos are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous land animals, responsible for an estimated five hundred human deaths in Africa per year.
Teamwork Makes The Dream Work
Once it’s clear the hippo’s not going to stop them, the rest of the dogs chip in and help pull the buck away so they can devour it safely. As bad as it can be to see them pulling their prey apart, this is a much needed meal for them.
Hippos are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, but African Wild Dogs are considered endangered, with the biggest threats to their population being habitat reduction, human interactions, and competition from lions and hyenas.
Without predators like these dogs to keep them in line, herbivorous prey species would proliferate and eat so much that they could permanently damage their own environments.