A safari guide in Sabi Sands of Kruger National Park in South Africa captured remarkable footage of a hyena that somehow managed to escape the grip of a lion.
“I was responding to a leopard on a kill sighting when the scene unfolded,” Dean Robinson, 42, told Latest Sightings. “Whilst watching two hyenas steal a leopard kill, a male lion snuck up on the hyenas and managed to get hold of one. The leopard watched from the highest branches of a nearby tree as the lion tried to kill the hyena.”
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The video begins with the lion firming grasping the hyena, which cries for help that wasn’t forthcoming.
To be clear, the video has a happy and surprise ending, though heartbreaking to watch at first.
“Fortunately for the hyena, the lion loosened its grip for a split second and the hyena took its chance, and made a getaway,” Robinson said. “The leopard was safe in the tree, the hyena ran away and the lion left the scene.”
Latest Sightings wrote that the hyena defied the odds.
“Lions are often referred to as the ‘royals’ of the jungle – and with good reason,” Latest Sightings wrote. “As they are very dominant by nature and will take down any competition if need be. They don’t even necessarily have to eat the competitive predator – it really is just a display of dominance, to eliminate anyone in the wild they’d have to potentially fight with over food.”
