Colin Holden sent this video to Latest Sightings. He filmed it at Thornybush Game Reserve, Greater Kruger, South Africa.
Just in time
Visitors to South African game lodges often hope to see predators tackling prey, a dramatic spectacle that is not for the faint of heart. After all, in Nature, there is no moody soundtrack or editorial blurring.
So, we can imagine the mix of excitement and trepidation on board the game drive vehicle as this video gets underway.
On a rainy day, a large pride of lions are in the process of hunting a lone buffalo cow. As she bellows, the lions pile in, pulling their massive prey to the ground.
Difficult prey
Presumably, this hunt had been going on for a while, as buffalo are not easily defeated, even by lions. Massively built, incredibly powerful and renowned for their bad temperament, buffalo are a hazardous prey to tackle.
For lions, it is a matter of weighing up the risk versus the reward. Any injury to a lion could have fatal consequences. However, when successfully executed, it will nourish the pride for several days.
Beyond their size, strength and temperament, buffalo typically live in large herds, deriving protection from one another. So, the absence of the herd probably contributed to the success of this hunt.
But why would she be alone? Was she sick, injured, or was it something else?
Sheltered calf caught
It would appear that the buffalo had left the safety of the herd to give birth. This becomes apparent when the video cuts to a new scene.
In it, a lioness has found her calf, which had been sheltering under a nearby bush while its mother was attacked.
The predator has the helpless calf pinned to the ground and is biting the unfortunate youngster in the neck. Like its mother, it bellows in a desperate plea for help.
But, its appeal is in vain, since the lions have killed the mother and the herd is nowhere to be seen.
Premature end to a short life
In the next scene, we see the lioness carrying the limp body of the calf, as she goes to join the rest of the pride in their hard-earned feast.
Our first impulse is to feel sorry for the youngster. Probably only a few hours old, it has barely begun to live before something snuffs out its life.
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Cruel but “kind”
Then we remember that the mother is dead. Therefore, had the lioness not found the calf when she did, the calf’s fate may well have been to die of starvation. Assuming another predator didn’t come along and kill it anyway.
As the video comes to an end, the pride settle down to eat. This meal will ensure their immediate survival.
Herd breeding styles
Buffalo do not synchronise their breeding, unlike wildebeest, for example, where the females mate and calve within weeks of each other. However, they do seem to time it so that calves are born in the wet season, when fodder is most abundant.
The benefit of synchronised breeding in its various forms is that about 50% of their young survive to maturity, as there are too many calves for the predators to consume them all, notwithstanding deaths due to disease, injury, abandonment and starvation.
