Young Elephant Drive Off 14 Lions
Hercules" the elephant is the new king of the jungle after the youngster drove off 14 lions earlier this month in Zambia. Visitors to South Luangwa National Park came upon a pride of female lions attacking the elephant near the Norman Carr Safaris Chinzombo Camp, and they caught the attack on camera.
"Never have I seen anything like this," Innocent, a Norman Carr safari
guide, wrote with the YouTube video, which has amassed nearly 200,000
views.
"We were all so worried the elephant would be killed right before us.
What a fighter," he said.
The video shows the lions clawing at the elephant and even leaping onto
its back as it tries to fend off and evade them despite being hugely
outnumbered.
Incredibly, the animal—which the tourists and safari guides dubbed
Hercules—escapes unharmed, according to the Norman Carr Safaris website.
To find out more about the behavior of both species, National Geographic
spoke with Joyce Poole, co-founder of the nonprofit ElephantVoices and a
National Geographic explorer.
Have you ever seen anything like this before?
We don't see it so much up in East Africa, [where I work]. Only once
have I seen anything remotely like that. Usually elephants are very much
in control when it comes to lions. So if they meet lions, they will see
them off.
What was the experience you had?
A family group [was] feeding in some palm trees, and there was a
year-old calf that was on the opposite side of the palm trees from the
adults, just resting and feeding. Suddenly a lion approached and just
pounced on this baby, who then screamed very loudly and the mother
elephant immediately came out from behind the bush and chased off the
lion and called in reinforcements.
That's the only time I've seen it. I know for the most part, at least in
East Africa, elephants are definitely the dominant of the species and
will see off lions very easily.
In Botswana I know of some prides specializing in elephants. I think
it's kind of a culture among lions that can get started in certain
areas. They tend to focus on these immature elephants. (Also see
"'Unusual' Pictures: Lions vs. Hippo.")
I wouldn't think they'd attack a full adult. And I don't think they'd
try to attack an elephant if it was really integrated in the group. So
it's likely that this one, even if the group was nearby, that somehow it
was physically separated.