The Singular Mind

Super-Lions Rock!

Fifteen years ago in Botswana, a group of lions were marooned on an island due to the shifting course of a river. They were without their normal food supply, sick, weakly, and old or young antelope, and were left with only a herd of water buffalo, and a few wildebeest and warthogs. Yet instead of dying out, they adapted and started taking down the water buffalo. From the article:

They have adapted to this challenge by hunting during the day under the baking African sun, swimming through deep rivers in the hunt for buffalo. This water-based training programme combined with a diet of protein-rich buffalo meat has led to the development of huge muscles, and these super-cats now dwarf other lions.

The island lions also use highly advanced psychology in their quest for food, predicting the course of the buffaloes' daily trek by anticipating their need for water — then lying in wait at the precise spot along the river where the herd will eventually stop for refreshment.

In turn, the buffalo have responded to the threat by merging into a vast mega-herd of 1,200 beasts — five times the size of a normal group. They have also, at times, turned on the lions, killing isolated cubs.

I find all this highly interesting, and will probably check out the new film about it, Relentless Enemies, with Jeremy Irons, if we get the National Geographic channel, which I don't think we do. So I guess I won't be watching after all.

For those of you who aren't fans of amazing super-lions taking out water buffalo (although I have no idea who this would be...), and for those who are and want more wanton violence but in a less bloody way, check out these videos of "a golf ball [being] sent hurtling towards everyday objects at ridiculously high speeds." Trust me, they don't disappoint.

Labels: Things of Interest

posted by Jeremy @ 4:09 AM