Savannah Cat Fight Shows Volatility of African Plains
Nature photographers spend countless hours waiting for something worthy of shooting, but sometimes a truly unique display of nature takes place and tremendous photos follow.
A series of photographs captured the moment a rival male lion ventured into a pack of lioness in a rare encounter on the plains of the African savannah.
The epic animal brawl took place inside Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and will go down in animal photography lore. The snaps were shot by a photographer that goes by the name of Guzelian and where taken for Caters News Agency.
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The photographs show the group of female lions surrounding the lone male rival and then ferociously ganging up on him after he was threatening the cubs of the pride. None of the pictures showed any signs of serious trauma and the encounter was described to have ended shortly after it began.
This is not the first time a group of lionesses were recorded defending their pride.
Pia Dierckx, 48, is a photographer from Antwerp, Belgium; he had been trailing the pride and was observing the lioness as they got ready to cross a small river in Botswana.
While the waters may have been calm, they were anything but safe and Dierckx explained that she was caught off guard when she heard a big splash.
The lioness had spotted the crocodile moving in closer to her traveling cubs and in a split second jumped on top of the croc, biting the reptile on the mouth and then forcing it underwater.
"Luckily for the lioness the crocodile did not have an opportunity to do the death roll because her mouth was kept closed between the front legs of the lioness," Dierckx told BPNS.com.
After the quick encounter, the lioness led her cubs to the safety of the river bank while the crocodile left the area to find an easier meal.
The photographer explained that the exchange only lasted for a matter of seconds and did not even know what happened until she took a moment to view the pictures herself.
"It was only after checking my pictures on the camera viewer that I really realized what I had witnessed. Luckily the story had a happy ending because all the lionesses and cubs made it safely to the other bank," Dietckx said.
Unfortunately, lions continue to be killed for their fur and teeth and their survival is also threatened due to the continued destruction of their habitat, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
