Strange lion behavior in the wild

Now this I have not seen before.

A lioness ventured too far into another pride’s territory and was caught by four males.

They subdued the lioness in a vicious fight.

The strange behavior?  - they began feeding on her while she was still alive as if it was a normal prey.

Even more strange two lionesses from the male lion’s pride joined in on the kill.

Nature is still full of surprises.

Has any of you ever seen / heard of this before?

http://blog.africageographic.com/africa-geographic-blog/wildlife/bizarre-lion-behaviour-in-the-okavango-delta/

Chris

No never heard of this before Chris. It does seem very strange behavour, unless there had been a shortage of prey animals in the area. Shame you did'nt post it a few days ago Lai is on a trip with Simon King she could have asked him, and also she's recently been with Jonathan Scott. I might try emailing Aatish Patel who is now a guide in Kenya, along with his Brother, they are also great friends of Paul Kirui, who has years of experience, to see if they have ever heard of this before

WS

Hi WS – it would be great if you can get some clarification from your sources.

Some form of cannibalism amongst lions has been reported before but it is very rare indeed.

It usually happens to injured animals i.e. a male being injured in a fight being preyed upon.

Doogs - I have learned over the years that what seems strange and disturbing in our human eyes can be explained by experts in the field.

I suppose that is why we are fascinated by nature in the first place.


Chris

Very true Chris  

I've sent Aatish an email with the story, not sure if they are on Safari at the moment.

WS

I had the following reply from Aatish today

Hi WS,

This is absolutely amazing and extremely unique and rare behavior from a lions point of view.

In fact many years ago we had similar behavior witnessed in the Mara regarding a pride of lions and one of the females little cub.

Apparently the cub got to friendly with the male while he was sleeping and the male and the other females attacked the cub and killed it.

The wild is a very interesting place and often proves the guide books wrong on a daily basis.

Best regards,

Aatish

WS

Thanks WS,

I am familiar with what Aatish is referring to – a form of infanticide.

Fairly well documented amongst lions when new pride males frequently kill the offspring of their predecessor.

I don’t think Aatish example was that but rather probably an accident by an irritated male.

Thanks for the reply.

Chris

I agree Chris different scenario from your post. As you say Males taking over Prides will kill Cubs to bring the females into estrus, and that case was proberbly thye Cub going to far. I tried Googling Lion canabalism, and came up with nothing like your story

WS

I think that even the strongest animal activist would have trouble defending  the  who says, "Oh I just killed them so that she would have my babies."   

But an interesting thread Chris.

Thats really quite horrible and disturbing and whatever the experts may come up with it's still quite bizzare and must have been awful for the Lioness.

I have never heard of this before and didnt read your link Chris.....don't have the heart or stomach for it.

The only thing I have heard of lions doing before and I believe it was televised was a group of Lions that caught their prey and ate them whilst still alive, they never seemed to kill them before eating which was said to be bizzare but taking one of your own kind and doing that is hard to fathom out and also makes my heart sink a little.

littlewid-x-