The most fascinating predator-prey interactions

[Infinity Blade]

Nov 10, 2024 17:30:55 GMT 5 elosha11 said:

May 31, 2024 8:50:24 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

The long blurb underneath the video suggests the elephant was indeed injured. I want to say at least half a metric ton, if not three quarters, but I can't say for certain.

I didn't read the description to necessarily mean the elephant was previously injured before the lion attacked. The blurb reads:

Rare footage of a lion finishing off an elephant in northern Botswana.

The video, filmed on May 18, shows the male lion chewing on the wounded elephant, which appears to be still alive.

According to the filmer, the footage was taken shortly after the big cat pounced on the elephant's back and brought it down.

"I tracked the male lion early one morning," the filmer wrote online.

"He eventually came to an open pan in the bush and charged at the elephant."

"The elephant ran off into the bush, but the lion pounced on its back," he continued.

"The elephant soon lost balance, which allowed the lion to asphyxiate it.

"It took 90 minutes to kill the elephant [and] the lion started to eat it alive."

I think this likely means the lion wounded the elephant, not that it was already wounded. It was able to run away from the lion, which would suggest some measure of normal health.

Incredibly impressive kill. Male lions are far more formidable hunters than for which they get credit.

I don't think it's conventional for people to have to say that something is wounded when it's in the process of being killed, unless it was genuinely injured prior. If a serial killer is stabbing another person, you don't really go "he stabbed the wounded person to death". That the lion is injuring the elephant in some capacity while killing it goes without saying.

The elephant fled, but the lion evidently caught up to it and it lost balance soon after. Of course, that would still happen even if it were healthy (cats are vastly better built for speed than elephants), but the fact that the elephant tried to flee doesn't necessarily speak well for its pre-existing health when it was caught.

[elosha11]

^Yes, I can see your point. I think the language is inherently ambiguous. I would be more inclined to believe the language likely suggests that that the lion "chewing on the elephant" caused the wounds of the "wounded elephant," particularly as you can actually see the wounds caused by the chewing in the video.

I also think if the elephant had been previously injured, it would have warranted more than a cryptic reference. We'll likely never know for sure.