Almero said that this was one of the rarest sightings he had witnessed in his 20 years as a guide.
“I have never seen anything like this before!” he said.
Watch The Sighting:
Sleeping Male Lions Rudely Awoken
Almero had stopped the game vehicle to watch two male lions sleeping peacefully without a care in the world. This was until some hyenas started communicating not too far away.
Lions Approach Nearby Hyenas
While the lions seemed deep in sleep, they were more attentive than they appeared to be.
Almero relates how the two male lions’ eyes opened and how they jumped up, running towards where the sound was coming from.
Hyenas are quite vocal creatures. They use various noises to communicate with each other: whooping, yelling, and cackling.
Their distinctive sounds carry quite far in the bushveld. In this instance, the noises they made carried all the way to the lions.
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Almero described the tentative moment, “When they got close to the den, they started to stalk and run towards the hyenas.”
They were clearly on a mission as they ambushed the hyenas and were filled with suspense and adrenaline.
One of the lions grabbed a young hyena cub from the den. He immediately bit into the cub and shook it around with fury.
Hyena Cub Loses Life In Vicious Assault
The young hyena stood no chance of survival. Its tiny body was left lying lifeless on the ground.
“Both the hyenas and lions were staring each other down and then began moving around the vehicle,” said Almero. “Emotions were running extremely high at this point as it was sad to witness the hyena cub get killed, while on the other hand, we were also left extremely fascinated by this rare occurrence.”
Hyenas Chased from Vicinity
After killing the hyena cub, the lions turned their fury on the rest of the hyenas. They chased the hyenas away, showing their dominance as apex predators.
With the area clear, they began to mark their territory around the den, letting off huge roars as they did so.
Lions Parade As Victors Of The Hour
“At the end of the day, the victory was that of the lions,” says Almero.
Still, this victory came at a great cost, as was evident by the small, lifeless body which one of the male lions then picked up. He walked with the deceased cub gripped firmly in his jaws, inspiring awe and fear in a display of majesty and power.
Lions are physically stronger than hyenas, and so in a confrontation with them, they immediately have the advantage. For this reason, they will kill them when they can. They often go for weaker individuals in the hyena clan, such as the cubs, as in this heartrending sighting.
Hyenas have also been known to prey on and even kill lion cubs.