Several Lions Hidden in the Grass? Lions Lay in Wait for a Long Time, But Buffalo Choose the Battlefield Most Disliked by Lions
Cats are all excellent hunters, and these hunters can be broadly divided into two types: pursuit hunters and ambush hunters. Pursuit hunters, such as cheetahs, primarily rely on speed to hunt; while most cat species belong to ambush hunters, such as domestic cats, lynx, tigers, and lions, which hide to wait for prey to get close before launching an attack.
Figure: How many lions are hidden in the grass?
Although lions are the strongest carnivores on the African savanna, their running speed is one notch lower than that of cheetahs, and if the final sprint distance exceeds 20 meters, the hunting action will almost fail, so they often use ambush to hunt. To increase the hunting success rate, adult lionesses in a lion group typically cooperate to encircle prey.
Recently, photos taken by British photographer David Bauer in Kruger National Park in South Africa showed how patient lions are.
At that time, David was observing a group of African wild cattle near a river when the cattle group suddenly stirred up. David focused his gaze on the grass, and discovered a lion hidden in the grass, which was peeking at the cattle. David glanced again and discovered a second lion hidden in the grass, only half of its face was exposed.
Based on intuition, David thought there were more than two lions hidden in the grass. Not long after, he discovered two more lions hidden better – a total of four lions hidden in the grass. These four lions patiently hid, and when they thought the cattle were about to discover them, they would retreat back into the grass, so sometimes only one lion could be seen.
Figure: Are these 4 lions hidden very deeply?
Wild cattle are lions' favorite prey. If a wild cattle can be captured, the entire lion group can feast. However, wild cattle are strong and have strong attack power, often defending in groups. If a certain strategy is not taken, it will be difficult to succeed. According to David, these 4 lions have hidden in the grass for at least an hour. When a wild cattle gets close to these lions, the lions suddenly launch an attack.
However, as mentioned earlier, wild cattle are difficult to deal with, let alone a few strong adult wild cattle. The wild cattle group first adopted a defensive posture, then jumped into the river and ran downstream together.
Rivers are the lions' least favorite battlefield, and the resistance of the water will affect the manifestation of their strength, so these 4 lions had to give up, and the hunting action ended in failure.
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