A male lion was targeted by about 20 hyenas, and almost certainly would have lost if it wasn’t for his brother’s help.
David Attenborough delivered in an episode of Dynasties that saw the King of jungle nearly fall from his thrown as the pack of cackling hyena surrounded him.
Red, a male lion, stumbled into the pack of hyenas who ordinarily would have no chance against a lion, but because Red was so outnumbered, they took their chance and tried to attack him.
Here’s the full video:
It was a nail-biting scene and I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching The Lion King play out.
‘Surely Mufasa, I mean Red, has to win?’, I said to myself as the male lion got more and more tired.
It was a desperate battle. Red was trying to attack individual hyenas while the rest of the pack were biting him from behind.
The Hyena Project in Ngorongoro Crater writes:
Spotted hyenas and lions compete over prey almost every day, especially when they kill large prey.
Against common belief, lions steal more kills from hyenas than vice versa and hyenas hunt most of their food themselves.
A lion male is twice the size of a spotted hyena and three to four times as heavy, and one single paw stroke can kill an adult hyena. Hyenas therefore are careful during encounters with adult lions for good reason.
Just when it looked like there was no hope, another male lion from Red’s pride appeared in the distance.
That back-up was all he needed, and when the pack of hyenas spotted a second lion, they bolted.
Even with 20 of them, two male lions would be an audacious battle to enter into.
The video ends with the two lions playing and cuddling after Red’s close shave.
The video received nearly nine million views at the time of writing, so it could rival other Attenborough scenes like the iguana vs snakes.
What Dynasties is teaching me is the true brutal competition of mother nature.
When I found out the lion cubs that were born in a recent episode had died, I couldn’t take it.
The episode followed the Marsh Pride in Kenya’s Masai Mara, with strong, independent lioness Charm giving birth to two beautiful lion cubs; one male, one female.
Viewers were utterly besotted by the little cubs, who devoted mum Charm had defended so ferociously against buffalo. Everyone within the pride and at home had been rooting for the newborns to survive and thrive.
The two lion cubs had been born away from the rest of the pride and only met their fellow lions when they were six weeks old.
Sadly, when the crew headed back to Kenya after the documentary had wrapped they made a tragic discovery. The two young lions had passed away, and it is thought they could have been killed by predators or buffalo.
I guess that is the true circle of life.
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