Friday, November 28, 2008

The thrill of the hunt

We came upon a group of zebras meandering along the riverbank. Out of nowhere, a lioness streaked out of the bushes...


Running at full speed, she lunged for a big female zebra (deftly avoiding its powerful kick)!


She hung on for dear life and dragged the zebra to the ground.






Against all odds, the zebra made a valiant attempt to stand up...


But the lioness had the zebra in a death grip, and she tightened her stranglehold on the zebra's neck.




Finally, it was all over. The lioness, panting hard, finally relaxed.


It wasn't long before this mama and her cubs arrived from over a nearby hill, followed closely by 9 other lions.


The pride settled down to a nice family dinner.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

To the lions, a lovely Thanksgiving dinner.

To the zebras, a deadly tragedy.

That's about the extent of my shallow Zen observations for the night.

Anonymous said...

Too bad the Detroit Lions can't tackle that way.

Will said...

Incredible action photos!

Anonymous said...

WOW!! I love the photos! *sigh* I miss Kenya. Ohio is quite boring.

Anonymous said...

What do you mean Brittany? You don't have have cool take-downs like this going on in the soy bean fields outside Dundee or in the back alleys of Cleveland?

AnotherDay said...

Great description. The reason the zebra could get back up is probably because the lioness swung around and seized its windpipe. Lions routinely finish off their prey by blocking off their air supply, so they are often seen actually underneath standing or crouching prey holding their throats. In other words, this is a textbook lion kill, probably by an expert hunter. If it seems cruel, it is in fact a rather merciful method when you see what some other predators (hyenas, wolves, wild dogs) do.


Michigan State University | College of Natural Science