Watch The Sighting:
Lioness Waits In The Shadows
Jaun Slabbert, filming in Kruger National Park, observed the aftermath of a lion’s buffalo kill. There was barely anything left, just scattered bones, tendons, and some meat scraps.
Scavengers are all over the bush because of the hunts happening all day. Vultures circle the skies and wait until the hunters have done their part.
Vultures Feast On Leftovers
When vultures spot a kill from above, they swoop and start picking at the remains. But they do not just eat the flesh; their stomach acid is strong enough even to digest the toughest skin, tendons, and sinew.
In the video, they are already feasting, with some fighting over a piece of bone, unsuspecting of the danger lurking in the grass.
Sudden Take Off
The grass rustles, and the vultures suddenly take off. They are not the typical prey. Most predators see vultures as nuisances that steal what’s left to eat
Vultures and other scavengers aren’t usual targets because biologically, they are at the bottom of the food chain, eating and scraping the leftovers of the apex predators.
As a result, they consume a wide variety of decaying material and accumulate trace elements, toxins, and other indigestible compounds. Vultures are adapted to tolerate these substances, but predators are not
Predators are instinctively wired to see scavengers as undesirable, making it Mother Nature’s way of letting them avoid potential risks to their health.
As they rose for just a few meters, the lioness sprinted and leapt, snatching one with her claws and going straight to the neck.
Even an average 260-pound lioness can display incredible feline agility when striking mid-air.
It looked up, observing the other vultures taking flight. We may not know her exact motive, but she likely wanted more than one.
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Is This Enough For A Meal?
The lioness did not appear starved. She was surely full from the kill, so her reason for hunting is still unclear, until later’s revelation.
White-backed vultures are not small birds. With a wingspan of 2 metres and weighing around 10 pounds, this is still not enough for a lioness.
After catching the vulture, she did not eat it. She carried it deeper into the bush and softly called her two small cubs.
When the cubs showed up, they started biting and pawing at the vulture carcass. Maybe that buffalo kill was not enough for the cubs. In the lion hierarchy of meal share, males eat first, then the hunters, and lastly the youngest
This vulture was not her dessert, but a meal for the little ones who had run out of their share.
Opportunistic Predators
Most African predators are opportunists, always choosing the easiest way to get food
The lioness is a prime example that an unlikely prey, like the vulture, is nowhere safe in the bush.