Lions are carnivores at the top of the food chain in the African savannah, and large animals on land are prey to lions, with the exception of adult healthy elephants, rhinos, and hippos. However, in the lion diet, the highest proportion is bovids (65%), followed by giraffes and zebras (21% in total), followed by warthogs and wildebeest (about 11% in total), and the remaining 3% is made up of other animals, while ostriches do not even account for 1% of the lion's diet.
However, there are as many as 150,000 ostriches in the wild in Africa, and their distribution overlaps with lions, so why do lions rarely kill ostriches? Regarding the reason for this problem, there is a mainstream theory on the Internet: ostriches can break the ribs of lions with one kick, so lions are not willing to take risks. So, is there any scientific basis for this statement? What is the real reason why lions rarely kill ostriches? Let's find out.
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Are lions really afraid of ostriches?
The ostrich is the largest bird in existence, with a maximum height of 2.5 meters and a weight of up to 155 kilograms, which is already comparable to an adult lion tiger. However, it is clear that the large size is not conducive to flight, especially in birds such as ostriches, which have severely degraded wings, which have lost the ability to fly. However, fortunately, ostriches are large, with slender necks and thick legs, which allows them to maneuver around when they encounter predators, and they can run when they are large.
Ostrich frontal stiff hyena
The lion is afraid of the ostrich This statement is mostly from a distant relative of the ostrich - the crane ostrich, the crane ostrich and the ostrich are both birds under the order of flat chest, and they are birds that can not fly and have long legs, in the native environment, the crane ostrich has the name of "killer bird", this is because in 1926, two Canadian brothers with a baseball bat went to the crane ostrich to fight alone, and the crane ostrich kicked a boy with a kick to the major artery in the neck, resulting in death, after that, the crane ostrich in Australia also has a number of cases of injury to death.
The main reason why the crane ostrich can kill people is that it has a pair of strong legs and toes, the longest toe of the crane ostrich can reach 12 centimeters, and compared to our toes, its toes are thicker, the ends are sharper, this design is not easy to break, but also has a strong lethality, they can kick through the board after a few centimeters. Although the ostrich's toes are not as sharp as the crane's, its largest toes are still very thick (only two large and one small), with strong lethality, and the ostriche's one jump kick can weigh up to 500 pounds, so many people think that the lions rarely hunt ostriches may be related to the ostriche's lethal legs and toes, so, is this really the case?
Are ostriches really too powerful for lions to dare to kill?
The answer to this question is obviously no, because the African buffalo, one of the lion's main prey, is much more lethal than the ostrich, and the lion still dares to hunt it, and although most lions rarely kill ostriches, there is one area where lions and two other cats often kill ostriches. Another area of lions is the desert lions that live in the Namib Desert in Africa, and about 20% of their prey is ostriches.
The other two cats refer to leopards and cheetahs, both of which can kill adult ostriches, but ostriches make up a higher proportion of cheetahs' diets than leopards. Therefore, even cheetahs can take ostriches as prey, and the rumor that lions are afraid of ostriches is naturally self-defeating.
So what is it that makes most lions rarely hunt ostriches? There are three main reasons: first: vigilance and speed. If you want to kill an animal, obviously those animals that run slowly and have poor vigilance are the best choice, and ostriches happen to be the opposite, they are very vigilant, and I believe that "ostriches bury their heads when they are in danger" This is actually a rumor, because people see ostriches often bow their heads in the distance, and under the influence of the terrain, they mistakenly think that they bury their heads in the sand.
The reason why ostriches often do this action is that in addition to the needs of foraging, they often put their ears close to the ground to listen to nearby vibrations to judge danger, so ostriches are more vigilant. Secondly, the speed of ostriches can reach more than 65 kilometers per hour, although lions can reach this speed by running with all their might, but lions have poor endurance, they are not suitable for long-distance running, and ostriches can run at high speed for at least ten minutes, which makes it very difficult for lions to hunt ostriches.
Second: prey selection. Of all the lions living in Africa, only less than 50 lions live in the Namib Desert and hunt ostriches regularly, and this prey selection is actually forced because the desert area is inherently lacking in prey, so they have no choice. According to zoologists' analysis of the size of lion prey, lions prefer prey weighing in the range of 190-550 kilograms, while ostriches are big birds, but the average weight is only about 100 kilograms, and the largest individuals do not meet the preferences of lions, which is an important reason why most lions rarely hunt ostriches.
Third: habitat distribution. In Africa, most of the lions inhabit the savanna, because this is the area with the highest animal density in Africa, and although the distribution of ostriches overlaps with lions as a whole, in the subdivided habitats, ostriches prefer desert areas and desert steppe areas, where the density of lions is relatively small.
Write at the end
Ostriches have to panic when they encounter adult cheetahs, and they are killed if they don't get it right, so it is a rumor that lions are afraid of ostriches, after all, ostriches need to face to face with lions if they want to play the advantages of their legs and toes, but whether it is a leopard, cheetah or lion, they all throw the ostrich to the ground in the process of running, and the ostrich can not exert its leg strength at all and is bitten to death. However, because ostriches are relatively fast and relatively small, it is true that most lions rarely hunt ostriches. Source: Universe Decoded
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