A photographer from Norway captured an incredible set of images in Kenya's Masai Mara National Park: a herd of bison clinging to a tree for a long time, while a male lion in the tree trembled with fright, without the slightest threat of hunting.
In fact, this is the lion herd wanting to hunt African bison, did not want to be swept away by the ferocious bison herd, a single male lion climbed to the tree in a hurry, and the bison has been under the tree, stalemate for several hours before leaving.
The male lion in the tree looked nervous, adjusting his posture from time to time, afraid that if he accidentally fell from the tree, he would face the crazy attack of the bison herd!
In fact, in many documentaries about African lions, most of them can be seen confronting and killing African bison. African lions like to hunt bison, because a huge prey can make the entire lion group full of food for a few days.
But the bison will not sit still, and in the face of the attack of the lions, the bison will rise up to resist, and once the lion is injured by the horn of the bison or trampled by the hooves, it will be fatal. African bison are even known as "lion killers", and they are the herbivores that cause the most lion deaths.
So the question is, how strong is the fighting power of the African bison? Why are they called "lion killers"? Let's talk about this topic.
African bison refers to african buffalo, which drink water almost every day, so they rarely stay away from water sources, often moving near grasslands and low bushes close to water sources.
Bison are tall, broad-chested, with stout limbs, up to 1.8 meters tall and 3 meters long, and weigh an average of 700 kilograms in adult males and 500-600 kilograms in females, which is much larger than lions weighing about 250 kilograms.
The most spectacular scene on the African steppe is the great migration of thousands of African bison, a large group of behemoths, running in the same direction at a speed of 50 km / h, and any other animal that cannot avoid it will be trampled into meat paste.
The African bison is fierce and difficult to domesticate, and although it is a vegan animal, it is indeed one of the fiercest animals in the African savannah, and if it provokes them, there is nothing to stop. In particular, bison that are single or injured are very grumpy and aggressive. According to some sources, the wild animals that hurt the most in Africa are not lions, but bison!
The strongest bull in the herd becomes the leader of the herd, leads the herd, and enjoys the right to eat the best pasture. African bison generally graze on the pasture in the early morning or in the evening, and during the day when the sun is hot, they often hide in the shade or soak in water.
African bison can be called the "African Five" together with African lions, African elephants, rhinos and leopards, as mentioned above, African bison not only hurt the most people, but also the greatest lethality of lions, so what is the combat effectiveness of African bison?
First of all, in terms of body size, the African bison is 1.8 meters tall, weighs more than 700 kilograms, and has strong limbs, which is a powerful presence for most carnivores, even if the lions are hunted together, they will inevitably suffer serious injuries.
Secondly, in terms of temperament, African bison are grumpy, especially those who are in a weak position, and female bison with cubs, they tend to be more aggressive for their own safety.
Again, in terms of group cooperation, bison are social animals, and when they encounter danger, powerful bison herds will form a wall to protect their cubs, and sometimes when they encounter lions hunting, the bison herd will even take the initiative to attack.
In short, although African bison are herbivores, they rely on their strong body shape, hard horns, teamwork wisdom, coupled with their grumpy temperament, so that most predators dare not easily hunt.
It is said that with the fighting power of bison, the lion herd should not be easily offended, but in fact, 40% of the food of the lion comes from the bison, because for the lions living in the group, hunting a bison will bring more meat and is more conducive to survival.
But the risk of lions hunting bison is huge, at least 3 to 6 female lions are needed to put down a bison, and the bison is even called "lion killer", why? In fact, the answer to the question has been described a lot before, and it can be summarized in the following three aspects:
1, bison fighting force is strong, lions hunting bison is easy to get hurt. If a lion is hit against a wall by a bison's horn or kicked by a hoof during the hunt for a bison, it is fatal to the lion.
Therefore, the lion herd will generally only choose the single bison to start, and at least 3 to 5 female lions attack at the same time to be able to circumvent the bison, and sometimes the male lion needs to launch a fatal blow to subdue the bison!
2. The bison herd will take the initiative to attack the bushes where the lions hide their cubs. This is actually quite peculiar, because usually only lion competitors such as spotted hyenas will actively hunt young lions, while African bison, as herbivores, will actively attack carnivores' cubs to reduce the threat that cattle may be exposed to in the future. Bison attacks are also one of the reasons for the high mortality rate in young lions.
3, since it is called "lion killer", then the African bison must have caused a lot of harm to the lion, from the data point of view, the bison is the animal that causes the largest number of lion deaths. However, lions die because of the number of times lions hunt bison more frequently, and the probability of injury is naturally higher.
In short, African bison are called "lion killers", mainly because they have strong defensive capabilities in the process of resisting lion round-up, which can cause a certain degree of damage to lions, and bison will also actively attack the bushes where lions hide their cubs, reducing the number of lions.
In fact, it is an exaggeration to say that African bison is a "lion killer", after all, bison is one of the most important animals in the lion's diet, and lions are more willing to hunt a single bison collectively than hunting other prey.
And in most cases, when an old, sick and disabled bison is attacked by a lion herd, the bison herd will often ignore it and even wait and see, which is conducive to the cattle weeding out the old and weak members.
But if the lions attack the bison cubs, the cows will fight to the death, and the cattle will resist collectively, so the lions generally rarely attack the bison cubs.