Hungry wild dogs took advantage of a drought and brought down a full-sized buffalo. But they did it right next to lions, who wanted to claim the prize for themselves!
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Mark Winckler specializes in photographic safaris for @ClassicZambia and has spent countless hours in the bush. While tracking wild dogs recently, he had a sighting that blew him away...
"We were out on the massive open plains, just before sunrise, near our resident pack of wild dogs' den site. Literally, as the sun was coming up, we spotted the dogs on the opposite side, and they were crossing over towards us!"
Mark repositioned at the bottom of the plains for a better photography angle, and that’s when the pack came running down in formation like they were after something! The wild dogs had seen some impalas from the top and the chase was on!
The impalas quickly caught on and dashed for the bushes. The dogs knew their chances of catching up were slim, so they started to lose interest. As the excitement died down, something caught Mark's eye.
"I looked to my left and noticed a herd of buffalo, just about 100 meters away! Before I could even finish the thought of seeing them attempt this, the wild dogs were up and running right at the buffalos!"
The wild dogs caught up with the herd in no time. They were very calculated, managing to target one of the buffalo and started to separate it from its family. From there, the wild dogs brought the buffalo to the ground!
"The buffalo wasn’t sick, but I would say weak because of the recent drought. They brought it down the first time, and it never got up after that. The wild dogs then surrounded the buffalo and started nipping and gripping from all angles."
Cape buffalos have a very thick hide, and even for such a large pack of wild dogs, they found it extremely difficult to break through. Some of the dogs even grew bored of trying and went to chase the herd again. But when they realized the first buffalo was still lying helpless on the ground, the dogs came back to try once more, this time targeting all the soft and sensitive spots!
The sighting that was playing out was almost unbelievable, and then a lion came charging in! Even the wild dogs were caught off-guard, and then they scattered. Despite their numbers, taking on a lion is just too much of a risk.
The poor buffalo who was still very much alive, could only accept its fate, as the lioness latched onto its neck. While this was happening another lioness, with cubs, popped out of the bushes and started making her way to her sister.
In the end, the lions kept the buffalo, and the dogs were forced to move on. The pack did manage to catch something later in the day, so they didn’t end up completely empty-handed.
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