Perhaps you will remember – and if you don’t remember, you can refresh your memory here – that about a year ago we told you the story of Jacob and Tibu, two lions who broke the swimming record in a river infested by predators; the most exceptional detail was that Jacob is a lion with three legs, having lost one in a poacher’s trap.
A year later, Jacob is still very well, and those who study him have finally managed to understand how he managed to survive despite his handicap: a series of videos taken with drones have shown that the animal no longer hunts like a lion, but like a leopard. The secret was revealed in an article on New Scientistwhile we are still waiting to see the videos.
Who is Jacob? Jacob is an 11-year-old male lion who lives in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, an area of 2,000 square kilometers that the IUCN has designated (along with the nearby Virunga National Park) as a “lion conservation unit”: all local populations of this feline are actively monitored with radio collars, camera traps and drones, and the two parks are considered essential for the conservation of the species.
That’s why Jacob has been known to scientists since he was born, and has been studied closely by biologist Alex Braczkowski of Griffith University since 2017.
Survival spirit. Since 2017, Braczkowski, working for the NGO Volcanoes Safari Partnership Trust (which filmed last year’s swimming record), has wondered how Jacob survives without a leg.
Years of drone filming have finally given him the answer: the lion has learned a new hunting technique, which resembles that of leopards. In fact, Jacob cannot use the same techniques as his conspecifics, using his physical strength to overwhelm his prey. He then honed the cunning.
Learn from Jacob! This means that Jacob uses unusual hunting techniques for a lion: for example, he is an expert at ambushes, which allow him to take his prey by surprise and overcome the limits of his tripodism. The inability to chase his meal also pushed Jacob to review his diet, aiming for animals that lions usually ignore: for example the hylochero, a large pig that lives in the forest and can weigh up to 200 kg.
Alternative prey. The change in diet allows Jacob to focus on prey that is not of interest to the other lions in the park, who are busy chasing antelope and buffalo.
This makes him an exception among big cats: normally, tripod lions survive only if they have a pride to take care of them, while Jacob hunts alone, or sometimes in the company of his brother Tibu. According to Braczkowski, among other things, his new hunting technique could sooner or later also catch on with other lions, broadening their food choices and thus helping them to survive.
