Competition can be fierce in the Greater Kruger National Park, as predators compete to maintain territorial borders, bring down prey, and protect it from others that might come looking to steal it.
For this pride of lions in the Sabi Sabi Game Reserve, the risk of losing a kill became very real when a hyena clan came sniffing around the carcass of an impala they were busy devouring.
Watch Now:
Andrew caught this footage showing the fierce and desperate battle waged between rival predators for the sake of a meal, and sent it in to Latest Sightings.
A Deadly Competition
The type of feeding habit that involves stealing food from the mouths of others is kleptoparasitism, and while hyenas are famous for it, many other predators engage in this kind of behavior.
Food is energy, and hunting is energy expenditure, so getting a good meal for putting in little effort is a simple calculation that benefits the thief. On other occasions, having a series of unsuccessful hunts might compel the theft of food from other, more successful predators.
It’s for this reason that many predators will guard their kills and territories, to ensure the chance of being challenged by rivals is lower, or drag the carcasses to safe locations where they can’t be challenged, and can enjoy consuming their meal at leisure.
This pride of lions didn’t do that, as lions are typically powerful enough to fight off competitors, but as a result, they found themselves assailed in the night by a hyena clan.
Just Trying To Enjoy Their Meal
In their arrogance, these lions risked losing the meal completely. There were five lionesses that had already begun devouring the carcass of an impala they’d brought down when their authority over the meal was challenged.
With their signature laughter sounding in the night, the clan of hyenas attacked the lions, attempting to dislodge them from the carcass either permanently or for long enough for a member of their clan to drag it away.
Attacks like these are risky, due to the superior weight and strength of lions, but a surprise attack in the dark with numbers improved the hyenas’ odds considerably.
Marauding Hyenas
Lions are mighty apex predators, but hyenas are tenacious and indefatigable. Their smaller size meant they could move nimbly around the lions and harass them from multiple angles.
By hiding in the long grass, they could get close enough to attack and antagonize one of the lions enough to get it to chase them as they retreated, and if they could isolate a lion for long enough, they could gang up against it and force them to retreat.
Get our Best Sightings as they Come in
The Need To Feed
Forcing the pride to relinquish their meal was going to be more difficult than the hyenas had hoped, however. While the hyenas were able to isolate the lions one at a time, they weren’t able to force the lions to leave the impala undefended.
They may have attacked in numbers, but the hyenas were still too few to pose a threat to five lions at once, and they appeared to be little more than a pest to the big cats, some of which didn’t even look up from their meal.
Both the hyenas and the lions were eager to feed on the carcass of the impala, but the strength of the lions ensured they would maintain the first place in the queue, and the hyenas would have to hunt for their own food or settle for the scraps.