Wednesday, November 30, 2016

In Africa, everything bites . . .


. . . or kicks, or scratches, or is just plain bloody-minded.  This lion found out about that when she tried to stop a giraffe being chased by the rest of her pride.




I've often had people say to me how sorry they are for the poor prey animals in Africa, so helpless before the teeth and claws of predators.  Er . . . not always! I remember one well-known incident where a sable antelope killed two young male lions that had decided to eat it.  It hoisted one on its horns and tossed it a full twenty feet, over the thorn boma around a game lodge and into its swimming-hole!  Talk about spectacular!  The sable trotted away, snorting derisively, leaving two very dead lions in its wake.  Sable are spectacular, beautifully proportioned, with long, scimitar- or saber-like horns, and an attitude of scorn and disdain towards anyone and anything nearby.  I like them.

A tip o' the hat to SNAFU for finding the video.

Peter

1 comment:

Tim Newman said...

I didn't think anything would try to attack a full-grown giraffe because they're too big, same as they avoid the full-grown elephants and hippos. The video would seem to support that. Perhaps the lioness didn't get the memo?