As a pride of lions prepared to tuck into the spoils of a successful wildebeest hunt for breakfast, one plucky hyena had other ideas.
The hungry hyena was photographed biting a lioness’s tail as she tried to defend her kill at Naboisho Conservancy in Kenya’s Masai Mara game reserve.
The lioness appeared to roar out in pain as the hyena’s sharp teeth sank into her behind.
The wildebeest’s huge carcass was quickly surrounded by a whole cast of hungry animals who all wanted their share of meat – and were prepared to take on a eight-strong pride of lions to get it.
Hyenas, jackals and even some seemingly vengeful wildebeest all encroached on the scene.
The fascinating photographs, which were taken just after sunrise, show the normal hierarchy of the animal kingdom called into question.
Eyewitness Alun James described the scene as a ‘high stakes game of poker’ in which ‘the lions blinked first’.
‘The two young adolescent males [were] unable to support the mature lionesses in a hand of buffalo bluff,’ he said.
‘The cats were driven off and the hyenas advanced like Russian ‘Ultras’: ripping into the carcass with uncontrolled glee,’ Mr James recalled.
Hyenas, jackals and even some seemingly vengeful wildebeest all encroached on the scene.
The fascinating photographs, which were taken just after sunrise, show the normal hierarchy of the animal kingdom called into question.
Eyewitness Alun James described the scene as a ‘high stakes game of poker’ in which ‘the lions blinked first’.
‘The two young adolescent males [were] unable to support the mature lionesses in a hand of buffalo bluff,’ he said.
‘The cats were driven off and the hyenas advanced like Russian ‘Ultras’: ripping into the carcass with uncontrolled glee,’ Mr James recalled.