Have you ever seen a group of expert hunters regret their actions in a matter of seconds? Well, that was exactly what happened when seven young lions surrounded an enormous hippo in a private reserve in Botswana. The pride even followed the hippo into the water, but all it took was one intimidating turn from this gigantic animal to make the lions feel, “You know what?Maybe not” and reconsider their plan completely.
So yes, from one second to another, the lions stepped back and what looked like an attack ended up being a big lesson about size, opportunity and to know when to stop and walk away..
The chase changes direction
The impressive video shared by Yellow Zebra Safaris shows several lions getting near the hippo, until it seems that he gets tired, turns around, and confronts them face to face. And what did the felines do? In the video you can see that they hesitated, went back to the shoreline, and preferred to sit down and just drink water as if nothing had happened a few seconds before the hippo changed his attitude.
In the end, the hippo just walked away without even a single wound or injury. Even a voice from the safari vehicle said: “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier for a hippo.”
Why the hippo had the advantage
Lets be honest, a large river hippo plays in a weight category is completely different. The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance indicates that the females weigh about 3,000 pounds on average and males between 3,500 and 9,920 pounds. And the lions? The Smithsonian data shows adult lions in a range around 265 to 550 pounds. This means that there is no comparison point, right?
The Smithsonian also says that lions tend to hunt prey weighing between 100 and 1,000 pounds. That puts even a smaller adult hippo well above their typical “daily menu.” Although lions, hyenas, and crocodiles may prey on young hippos, confronting a large, healthy adult means getting into a completely different kind of trouble.
Young lions need real-world practice
Julian Carter-Manning, founder of Yellow Zebra Safaris,explained something very important: most of the lions were young adults that were still learning how to hunt.
And that is why it is said that the Current Zoology study can be quite accurate. Cub games (like stalking, ambushing, and grappling) are the exact same movements they use when they are adults. But of course, one thing is to practice and another is to completely master the technique in the real scene of the hunt.
As if that were not enough, research from the University of Minnesota’s Lion Center demonstrates that the lions only cooperate when the prey is enormous or dangerous, which it actually proves that in nature the strategy matters as much as the numbers of hunters there are.
Was this a committed hunt?
And now the question is: did they want to eat the hippo or were they just playing? A short video cannot reveal every lion’s intention. Maybe some of them were seriously trying to hunt, while others were just testing the hippo’s response or simply acting out of pure inertia and instinct.
What the images make very clear is that the lions followed the hippo, that one of them made contact and that the hippo turned around and the group stepped back. Having said this, there is no evidence that they really had a master plan to take down such a giant.
Waterholes bring rivals together
It is not to be forgotten that during the dry season, waterholes concentrate predators and prey in the same places. This creates big opportunities for hunting, but also confronts lions with their neighbours near the water who, as you can see now, have a particular temperament.
For these young cats, backing off from their attack for sure was the most intelligent decision of their day.
The hippo reached familiar ground
One curious fact that maybe you did not know: hippos spend the rest of the day in the water to stay cool, but San Diego Zoo experts make it clear that they do not swim or float. Instead they just walk and push themselves along the bottom.
So arriving in the water gave him the opportunity to be in his “comfort zone” and a clear way to escape from the cats if he needed to. In that exact moment in which he turned to look them in the eyes, the balance of confidence visibly shifted and the lions understood that the battle was already lost.
The original images of this incredible moment were published on Instagram by Yellow Zebra Safaris.
