34-year-old Armand Barnard was out in the Kruger National Park with his wife on 28 March 2023, returning from the Nkuhlu picnic site when they came across the lioness desperately defending herself against the hungry hyenas.
With so many against one, there was little the lioness could realistically do to defend herself, and as Armand discovered them after the lioness had already been attacked it’s unknown how long she’d been fighting. As Armand described it: the “hyenas then surrounded her, and you could almost see the acceptance of defeat in her eyes.”
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Grace At The End
Alone, isolated from her pride, and apparently exhausted as well, the lioness couldn’t help but collapse to the ground, taking a desperate rest while the hyenas closed in eagerly around her.
It was a sad sight to see such a mighty animal brought low, but Armand and his wife could do nothing but watch as the hungry hyenas continued to nip and bite at the lioness, whittling it down with small attacks.
All The Time In The World
Hyenas are usually reluctant to hunt lions, due to their strength and ferocity, and when driven to it they are careful about the targets they select. For them to attack this lioness means she’s weaker than she would have been in her prime, whether that’s due to age or sickness.
Her weakness means they seemed to be perfectly content with taking their time bringing her down. Rather than forcing a direct fight, they dashed in for a quick bite before retreating out of reach so she couldn’t retaliate.
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They obviously thought she was such easy prey that they didn’t need to try particularly hard, and could just keep following her until she completely collapsed from exhaustion.
Ferocious Competitors and Mortal Enemies
Hyenas have a reputation for being scavengers, eating the food that others have left behind. While this is absolutely true, they’re still dangerous hunters in their own right.
Although they’re perfectly happy to eat lion when they have the opportunity, hyenas will very rarely actively hunt them, which makes this sighting all the more extraordinary.
As a direct threat, hyenas pose the most danger to lion cubs, but indirectly, they roam the same areas as lions and prey on the same animals, making them direct competitors.
As scavengers, hyenas also won’t shy away from fighting other animals away from their own kills so that the hyenas can eat them instead. If a lioness has made a kill and is still waiting for the rest of her pride, she’s especially vulnerable to having her kill stolen by their superior clan numbers.
A Happy Ending?
As sad as this sighting is, it’s possible that there was a happy ending. Armand saw the lioness disappear into the bush, followed closely by the hyenas, so can only speculate on what happened. He does say though, that “the next morning we found three lionesses on the same road, and one of them had a limp in her left rear leg with a bite mark.”
It’s entirely possible that the lioness was only momentarily separated from her pride when the hyenas decided to make their opportunistic attack. If that’s the case, and other lions did come to her aid and fight the hyenas off, she’ll have to keep an eye out for them in the future.