Tag: Lion

Watch: Momma lion tries to nap but cub is ‘having none of it’

A safari company in Kruger National Park has captured adorable footage showing a lion cub craving mom’s attention.

As all mothers know, when a child craves attention there is little time for rest.

The accompanying footage, captured by Nombekana Safaris and Wildlife Photography, shows a lion cub sweetly nudging a lioness, presumably its mom, as she tries to nap in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

Rodney Nombekana captioned the video: “Watch when lioness trying to sleep and the cub is having none of it.”

Among the top comments:

—“Motherhood… no matter the species is always the same.”

—“Delightful piece of film! Mum was so patient with the cub. Equally cub was needing her attention!”

—“Absolutely adorable! So amazing to see the playfulness of the cub. Great vid thank you.”

Nombekana’s tour company specializes in day trips and informs prospective guests on its website:

“Our safaris ensure that you maximize the time you have in the national park as we are the first in the park and last out. This is important as most animals especially the cats are active early morning and late afternoon and by driving with us your chances of seeing magic happen is increased tremendously.”

Watch: Cheetah teases large male lion and gets chased

A ranger at the Mala Mala Game Reserve captured video of a once-in-a-lifetime sighting of a cheetah taunting a lion.

A ranger at the Mala Mala Game Reserve in South Africa captured video of a once-in-a-lifetime sighting of a cheetah teasing and taunting a large male lion, prompting a chase with a predictable outcome.

Kevan Dobbie, assistant head ranger at the game reserve, shared his video with LatestSightings. He explained:

“A young male cheetah has been seen spending quite some time around Mala Mala Game Reserves Private Airstrip. On this particular day, it was a sighting where being at the right place at the right time paid off.”

“Three of the big cat species interacted,” Dobbie told LatestSightings. “Two Ndzhenga male lions approached a young male cheetah. While a female leopard (Nkoveni) was watching the scene unfold from the eastern side of the airstrip.

“The cheetah, well aware of the lion’s presence, displayed some interesting behavior. At first, almost taunting the lion as if it were saying, ‘You can’t catch me.’

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“One of the Ndzhenga male lions didn’t appreciate the teasing and pursued the young male cheetah. The cheetah knew he had an advantage and kept the lion at a comfortable distance.”

Not surprisingly, the lion never did catch the cheetah.

“Eventually, the lion lost interest, and both lions plopped down and lazy lounged around the airstrip,” Dobbie said.

Photo courtesy of LatestSightings.

Watch: ‘Massive’ lion forces standoff with safari vehicle

Footage captured recently in South Africa’s Kruger National Park shows a large male lion in a brief but dramatic standoff with a safari vehicle.

When you’re on a photo safari in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, you pass the king of beasts on his terms.

The accompanying footage, featured Friday by Wildest Kruger Sightings, shows a ‘massive’ male lion in a dramatic standoff with a safari vehicle.

The driver attempts to pass as the lion has his back to the vehicle, facing a lioness napping on the road’s edge.

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But in a swift about-face, issuing a roar of disapproval, the lion forces a standoff that lasts several seconds before the lion determines the threat has passed.

The passengers, only feet away, undoubtedly captured incredible images before the lion turned away.

In another dramatic display this past week in Kruger, a smaller male lion found itself facing down several angry hippos after becoming stranded on a rock in a river.

The lion leaped and began to swim when the closest hippo lunged with its enormous mouth agape. Another hippo went after the lion, but the lion was too quick.

–Image courtesy of Wildest Kruger Sightings

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Rare footage shows hippos attacking lion stranded on rock

Rare footage captured in South Africa shows several hippos confronting a lion stranded on a rock, and one hippo in full attack mode.

A lion that had become stranded on a rock in a South African river soon discovered that it had much larger problems.

The accompanying footage, featured Tuesday by Latest Sightings, shows several hippos confronting the lion and one hippo in full attack mode, forcing the lion to leap and flee toward shore.

The encounter, captured by Steyn Jacobson and witnessed by guests of South Post at Kruger, occurred on the Crocodile River in Kruger National Park.

Latest Sightings explains that several agitated hippos began to circle the rock when all of the sudden, according to Jacobson, “A big hippo went for the lion, and the lion had no choice but to jump off and into the water. In the end, another hippo went for the lion, but luckily, he missed it.”

The young male lion, possibly trying to cross the river to establish his own territory, was not injured during the encounter.

–Image courtesy of Latest Sightings

Watch: Hyena defies odds by escaping lion’s grip

A safari guide in Sabi Sands of Kruger National Park captured remarkable footage of a hyena that somehow managed to escape a lion’s grip.

A safari guide in Sabi Sands of Kruger National Park in South Africa captured remarkable footage of a hyena that somehow managed to escape the grip of a lion.

“I was responding to a leopard on a kill sighting when the scene unfolded,” Dean Robinson, 42, told Latest Sightings. “Whilst watching two hyenas steal a leopard kill, a male lion snuck up on the hyenas and managed to get hold of one. The leopard watched from the highest branches of a nearby tree as the lion tried to kill the hyena.”

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The video begins with the lion firming grasping the hyena, which cries for help that wasn’t forthcoming.

To be clear, the video has a happy and surprise ending, though heartbreaking to watch at first.

“Fortunately for the hyena, the lion loosened its grip for a split second and the hyena took its chance, and made a getaway,” Robinson said. “The leopard was safe in the tree, the hyena ran away and the lion left the scene.”

Latest Sightings wrote that the hyena defied the odds.

“Lions are often referred to as the ‘royals’ of the jungle – and with good reason,” Latest Sightings wrote. “As they are very dominant by nature and will take down any competition if need be. They don’t even necessarily have to eat the competitive predator – it really is just a display of dominance, to eliminate anyone in the wild they’d have to potentially fight with over food.”

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Lion spotted outside home in Kenya isn’t what it appears to be

Armed wildlife officers responded to reports of a lion hiding in a hedge outside a home, but they found something far different, and not a threat at all.

The Kenya Wildlife Service received numerous reports of a lion hiding in a hedge outside a home in Meru County and dispatched three armed wildlife officers to the scene to handle a possible Human Wildlife Conflict case.

They cautiously approached the homestead where the lion had been spotted and immediately relaxed when they discovered the feline that was causing alarm in Kiangua, just east of Mount Kenya National Park.

That’s because the lion was actually a shopping bag with a realistic image of a lion’s head on it, as reported by the BBC and the Kenya Wildlife Service.

“We treated the incident with a lot of caution and seriousness,” local chief Cyrus Mbijiwe told the BBC. “We first ensured everyone was safe then wildlife officials investigated and discovered that it was a bag.”

Mbijiwe said there hadn’t been any sightings of stray lions in the area, but residents complained that some of their livestock had gone missing.

From the BBC:

The bag had been placed in the hedge by the home owner, who had put some avocado tree seedlings in it and wanted to stop them drying out…

The homestead owner was away when the wildlife wardens were called. When she arrived back home, she was told about the lion and was advised to enter her house through the door on the opposite side of the building from the hedge, so she didn’t immediately connect the report with the bag containing her seedlings.

“Despite this being a false alarm, we laud the public for raising an alarm in order to mitigate a possible conflict,” the KWS stated on Facebook.

Photos courtesy of the Kenya Wildlife Service.

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Watch: Flat tire leads to ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ sighting of lion stalking lion

Guide Aiden Blake in Africa’s Dinokeng Game Reserve heard of a lion sighting, but when he went to investigate he was delayed–thankfully. Video shows what happened.

Was it a playful prank? Was it a challenge for dominance over the territory? Was it just a feline doing what felines do?

We’ll never know for certain what the motive was of one male lion sneaking up on a napping male lion, but the sighting was a once-in-a-lifetime event for a safari guide and his clients, thanks to a flat tire, of all things.

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Guide Aiden Blake was leading a safari in Dinokeng Game Reserve in South Africa when he heard of a lion napping in the brush. So he started driving to the location only to get delayed because of a flat tire.

“En route, I had a flat tire and, of course, had to change it first,” he told Latest Sightings, which posted his video.

He arrived just in time to see a lion stalking a napping lion.

Remarkably, the sleeping lion seemed to react an instant before the other lion pounced. The felines got into a “minor brawl” before going “straight back to sleeping again soon after,” Blake told Latest Sightings.

“This truly was a once-in-lifetime sighting for me and just really goes to show everything happens for a reason. Had it not been for the flat tire, we would probably not have experienced this.”

Because of the delay to change the tire, Blake arrived on the scene at just the perfect moment. Otherwise, they’d have missed the awesome encounter.

Photo courtesy of Latest Sightings.

Watch: Brave lion swats massive rhino’s tail, as if on a dare

In what was described as a “most phenomenal encounter,” amused tourists witnessed a playful lion mustering the courage to swat the tail of a massive white rhino.

In what was described as a “most phenomenal encounter,” amused tourists witnessed a playful lion mustering the courage to swat the tail of a massive white rhino.

The accompanying footage, captured last week at Mongena Private Game Lodge in South Africa, shows young lions of the Nkawu pride circling two rhinos grazing in a meadow.

“The youngsters were so intrigued by these enormous animals that the one ended up fly-swatting the tail of one of the rhinos,” the lodge stated on Facebook.

One viewer observed: “I love how he stretches the hand and only touches the rhino, then runs.”

To which the lodge responded, “Possibly dared by the others?”

In the footage, the lions are, indeed, wary in the company of such powerful and unpredictable beasts. But at the 30-second mark one lion inches close enough to tap a rhino’s tail with its paw.

Both rhinos turned to face the startled lions, and that signaled the end of the game.

The Mongena Private Game Lodge bills itself as a Big 5 lodge, in reference to iconic animals known to roam within its boundaries: lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants, and buffalo.

–Image courtesy of Mongena Private Game Reserve

Watch: Courageous zebra rescues baby from lion attack

The accompanying footage, showing a mother zebra rushing to the rescue of her foal under attack by a female lion, might be difficult for some to watch.

The accompanying footage, showing a mother zebra rushing to the rescue of her foal under attack by a female lion, might be difficult for some to watch.

But the footage, captured by Mmbangiseni Milton Tshiolol in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, appears to have a happy ending in that momma zebra’s furious charge – and kick to the lion’s head – persuades the stunned predator to at least temporarily abandon its hunt.

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The footage, shared Wednesday to the Kruger Sightings Facebook page, appears to have been captured from a photo safari vehicle.

Tshiolol, at the time of this post, had not responded to an inquiry by FTW Outdoors.

Reads one of the top comments: “Absolutely amazing, the strength of a mom’s love for her young.”

Reads another comment, pertaining to concerns over the baby zebra’s possible injuries: “That young foal will be fine, have seen throat holds that lasted twice as long and they survive without more than a bruising.”

Watch: Critters scatter as furious lion reclaims prize

Rare footage out of South Africa reveals the remarkable ability of lions – as kings of the jungle – to emphatically clear animals from a desired area.

Rare footage out of South Africa reveals the remarkable ability of lions – as kings of the jungle – to emphatically clear animals from a desired area.

The footage, captured by Rushada Schutte at Timbavati Game Reserve, shows more than a dozen vultures and hyenas feasting on an elephant carcass that had briefly been abandoned by a male lion.

“Our resident male lion went for some water by the river causing all the hyenas and vultures to descend onto the carcass,” Schutte, a field guide at Timbavati, described via social media. “But he could not have made a better entrance upon his return.”

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A post shared by Rushada (@rushadaschutte11)

Schutte told ForTheWin Outdoors that the “crazy sighting’ occurred in early March. She explained that the lion has been nursing a leg injury, noticeable in the footage, for months.

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Schutte said the injury, perhaps sustained in a fight with another lion, has diminished the lion’s chances of surviving. “So this elephant carcass was a saving grace,” Schutte added.

The lion had been feasting on the carcass for a few days before Schutte captured her footage, which shows that the large cat still possesses plenty of fury and determination.

–Lion image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons