Lion-hyena bloody rivalry: The spectacle of tourists

Dar es Salaam. From the comfort of the safari trucks, tourists visiting the wild East African nation of Tanzania have witnessed some of the most brutal and bloody wars known in the animal kingdoms.

Lions and hyenas have been mauling each other since the creation of the wilderness, with casualties on both sides.

Lion kings have fallen, and in some instances, they have wiped out parks of hyenas in their retribution.

Their competition for food and territory causes the well-documented ancient interspecies rivalry between the two apex predictors.

The two carnivorous animals have an overlapping diet. Wildebeests, antelope, and zebras eat their daily meals, while lions predominantly hunt for their kills. Hyenas are known scavengers.

The back-and-forth theft, taking lions’ hard-earned food only intensifies their animosity.

During one of the most spectacular events known to mankind, the great migration, these two arch-enemies meet and their fights become a side attraction for tourists who gather in the Serengeti National Park to watch millions of wildebeests and zebras’ migration.

The influx of their prey has always become ground for conflict as both species try to establish dominance.

All animals know the significance of the annual mass exodus and how vital it is for their survival, the wildebeests and zebras follow the rain and greener pasture, thus requiring them to cross the Grumeti River where the crocodiles, lions, and hyenas lie in waiting.

The ecosystem in Serengeti pits these species against each other and these rivalries are always bound to happen.

In the Ngorongoro Crater, the abundance of herbivorous animals and their carcasses has always created grounds for clashes between the parks of lions and hyenas.

The two animals move differently, lions are solitary, moving in small numbers as a pride, while hyenas are highly social, they hunt and scavenge in large packs.

In their showdown, the lions rely on their strength as the hyenas count on their numerical advantage.

While two grown lions can easily fight a pack of hyenas, in some cases when a clan of scavengers encounters a lone lion, they can overwhelm the Savannah king.

In Ruaha National Park where there is less abundant prey than in Serengeti, hyenas form large groups and advance toward the small lion pride trying to steal their kills.

The showdowns are always messy and bloody, displaying survival instincts in the wild.

The dry seasons are brutal, frequent fights erupt over carcasses and hunting grounds, and the lion's sheer huge sizes and brute strength have been the demise of many hyenas in their clans, it has been observed in some incidents where lions do pre-emptive attacks, unprovoked hunt hyenas trying to eliminate their competition.

Hyenas’ strategies and numbers have always risen to occasions, with a clan of up to 30 hyenas, they relentlessly exhaust pride and isolate their cubs, which they eliminate, killing their arch-enemies before they grow up to be a formidable force.

During the wildebeest calving season, these two carnivorous creatures are known to have constant fights, their prey becomes an easy stationary target.

The lions mercilessly pounce on the wildebeest newborns and their mothers, if they are not fast enough or put up any fight.

While the lions guard their kills, hyenas creep up to tear a share of the dead animals.

The longer dry periods and scarcity mean every meal is fiercely contested.

High predator density in national parks like Ruaha, which has one of Africa’s largest numbers of lions, only increases the frequency of the fights.

It has been lions walking with a hyena’s head clutched between its teeth, and lifeless bodies of lion cubs have been observed dangling between the hyenas’ mouths.

These battles are merciless, these neighbours have never come to terms with peaceful coexistence.

Lions and Hyenas inadvertently play a crucial role in the ecosystem of Tanzania’s wilderness, balancing the predator/prey population, and cleaning the carcasses in the parks but also benefiting smaller animals like the vultures, African wild dogs, and even insects, while ensuring a healthy ecosystem is preserved.

Natural selection also makes the prey species like zebras and antelope robust, alert, and healthy.

These fights have caused an evolution in the two animal species, shaping their behaviour and life patterns.

Hyenas have developed powerful jaws to break bones quickly and eat at a pace that will allow them to consume their kill or steal, faster before the lions are in the scene.

Hyenas have learned that their chance of survival is highly dependent on their communal nature, moving into large clans to deter their arch-enemies.

Lions, though solitary, have adapted to at least move in pairs while on terrains that have a huge population of hyenas, they have used their fierce power to spread fear among the hyena clans even when not attacked by them.

This has proved to scare and warn the scavengers to not even dare get close to the lions’ territories.

Merciless revenge kills have been witnessed as each species claims dominance.

The famous fights are around the water holes, where lions lie in hiding waiting for the animals coming to drink water, their assumed spot to find a kill mostly during the dry season, but around the water sources, the availability of carcasses is abundant and that’s where hyenas come to claim a meal too.

Their rivalry is bound to last. Lions and hyenas rarely live in peace, their ecological roles and competition for food will always pit them against each other.

But there are moments when their rivalry is at its lowest, mostly when there is plenty of food, noticeably when the great migration leaves behind many dead herbivorous animals who tried to cross the Grumeti River.

The availability of dead and alive prey provides a temporary period of peace between the two animals.

On a rare occasion, when there is a large kill like an enormous elephant or a hippo, lions are less likely to be unwelcoming to hyenas, they often give them a pass and let them steal a chuck or two without running them off. Hyenas have been known to avoid confrontation with lion pride and submit to their dominance, especially when in the presence of a formidable pride, the scavenging hyenas will patiently wait on the side for the pride to finish eating and walk away before they gather around the eaten animal and try to eat whatever is left.

But the hyenas would also avoid the lions when they are in a vast terrain like the Serengeti National Park or Ruaha, naturally nocturnal, hyenas will choose to scavenge at night far away from the lions.

But relative peace has been seen during draughts too, lions and hyenas choose to conserve their energy for hunting rather than needless fights, each fight would weaken both animals in a time when they need more energy for longer hunts when the water and prey are scarce.

Despite these peaceful times, total peace is never achieved, their battle for food and territory ensures that their survival strategy is built around out-competing each other and these fights have inadvertently made epic safari moments for tourists coming to Tanzania wildness, there are pictorial memories of the lion and hyena battles that are legendary and despite what you will hear nothing beats seeing these two carnivorous animals battling it out under the sunny skies of Tanzania national parks.