The unique sighting was filmed by Mark Fox of Exploring Kruger.
The male lion caused a significant roadblock as he wandered down a sand road in the reserve. He was a picture of power and majesty, his mane darkened with age, and his skin bearing scars from previous battles with other alpha males.
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For a moment, he looked up to consider the cars from which game viewers watched him with expectation.
He then continued to walk across the dusty surface of the road, until he came to some scattered animal dung. This seemed more intriguing to him than the many motorists, eyeing him from their vehicles.
Lion leans in to inspect dung
He leaned in closer to get a good look at the dung, even pressing his nose against it. As an apex predator, lions have an excellent sense of smell and this wasn’t just an act of curiosity. He was on to something; his years of training as a hunter having made him sensitive to every clue of life or animal movement in the bushveld, including this dung.
Lions are highly social predators which rely on scent as much as sight and sound to understand their environment.
While humans depend heavily on vision, lions gather a great deal of information through their noses. A pile of dung can reveal who has passed through an area, when they were there, what species they belong to, and even aspects of their health or reproductive condition.
The art of ‘dung sniffing’
When a lion sniffs dung, it is often investigating scent markers left by another animal. Herbivores such as zebras, wildebeest, buffalo, and antelope leave dung wherever they travel.
By examining these droppings, a lion may learn whether potential prey is nearby. Fresh dung can indicate that a herd has recently moved through the area, helping the lion decide where to hunt.
Dung can also provide information about rival predators. Lions may encounter the droppings of hyenas, leopards, wild dogs, or even other lions. The scent allows them to determine whether competitors are present in the area. This information is valuable because conflicts between predators can lead to injuries or loss of food resources.
It is hard to say which animal left this dung, however, judging from the size of it, it was more than likely elephant dung!
What was evident was that the dung held the lion’s full attention. He didn’t care so much for the many cars parked in the road and the attention he was getting from game viewers. For now, just the dung was important!
Lion starts to roll in dung in front of game viewers!
Then, he did the unthinkable! He started to roll in the dung. Rolling in dung is another fascinating behaviour exhibited by lions. One explanation for this is called ‘scent masking.’
By covering its own scent with the smell of another animal, a lion may become less noticeable to prey. That’s pretty smart!
Although lions primarily hunt using stealth, cover, and teamwork, reducing their natural scent could provide an additional advantage when approaching wary animals.
For the occupants of Mark’s vehicle, this was an exceptionally memorable sighting. Had he been any other species, this big fellow might have lost some respect rolling around in dung in such a manner… However, he was the King of the Jungle, after all. He managed to remain dignified through the whole process.
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