A short clip shared on social media captures a terrifying battle between a wild buffalo and a male lion in the Luangwa National Reserve (Zambia).
The male lion appears to be old and has been starved for days. However, it decided to use the little remaining strength to hunt an adult buffalo.
The unwise choice cost the lion, as he quickly lost the battle. Not only could not defeat the prey, the lion also received many painful blows from the sharp horns of the buffalo, causing it to be seriously injured and lying on the ground.
However, the pride of the “lord of the forest” did not allow it to give up. When the buffalo was about to leave, the lion continued to leap and pounce on the prey from behind.
Of course, the lion’s weak effort only caused it to receive more counterattacks from the enemy, without having a chance to deliver the finishing blow.
Seeing that the lion was too stubborn, another buffalo in the herd rushed forward and launched a fatal blow for the lion. This attack has exceeded the endurance limit of the “lord of the forest”, leaving it only to lie down and wait to die.
The failure of the ill-fated hunter is said to come from a lack of wisdom when choosing an opponent. The African buffalo has never been an “easier” prey, even with large lion herds.
The African bush buffalo is a Cape buffalo that has long been known for its robustness and difficulty of taming.
They are likened to a solid tank, capable of knocking all enemies away with their sharp horns thanks to their weight of nearly 1 ton, and the health of few animals.
Mature buffalo horns are typical of the species, with the horns merging at the corner base, forming a bony shield known as a “hump”. This pair of horns combined with a muscular physique makes it very difficult for buffalo to be defeated by one or two predators, but usually it takes a whole herd of hunting animals to defeat them.
In the event of being unable to retreat, the buffalo will not hesitate to engage in a fight with the enemy. There is a recorded case of a buffalo killing a lion, and chasing other members up a tree, after the lion killed a member of the herd.
In addition, when being hunted by predators, a herd of buffalo will stick together and make it difficult for predators to choose a suitable member to attack.