A record-breaking swim by two African lion brothers across a predator-infested river has been filmed by scientists in Uganda.
The big cats – a 10-year-old local icon known as Jacob and his brother Tibu – crossed the Kazinga Channel in the Queen Elizabeth National Park at night.
Researchers who captured the incredible feat on high-definition heat detection cameras attached to drones say that Jacob has already survived numerous life-threatening incidents, one of which left him with an amputated leg.
“Jacob has had the most incredible journey and really is a cat with nine lives,” said Dr Alexander Braczkowski from Griffith University, who led a team that filmed the channel crossing.
Previous reported swims by African lions have ranged from a few metres to a couple of hundred metres, some of which resulted in deaths by crocodile attacks. The researchers, who worked under the supervision of the Uganda Wildlife Authority, believe that the lion brothers' 1.5km swim across the Kazinga Channel is a record-breaker.
“His swim, across a channel filled with high densities of hippos and crocodiles, is a record-breaker and is a truly amazing show of resilience in the face of such risk,” said Braczkowski, who has been running a long-term study of African lions and other predators in Queen Elizabeth and several other Ugandan National Parks.
His swim, across a channel filled with high densities of hippos and crocodiles, is a record-breaker and is a truly amazing show of resilience in the face of such risk.
“I’d bet all my belongings that we are looking at Africa’s most resilient lion: he has been gored by a buffalo, his family was poisoned for lion body part trade, he was caught in a poacher’s snare, and finally lost his leg in another attempted poaching incident where he was caught in a steel trap.
“The fact that he and his brother Tibu have managed to survive as long as they have in a national park that has experienced significant human pressures and high poaching rates is a feat in itself – our science has shown this population has nearly halved in just 5 years."
The researchers are trying to figure out why Jacob and Tibu risked the dangerous 1.5km-long night swim.
"It’s likely the brothers were looking for females,” Dr Braczkowski explained.
“Competition for lionesses in the park is fierce and they lost a fight for female affection in the hours leading up to the swim, so it’s likely the duo mounted the risky journey to get to the females on the other side of the channel.”
“There is a small connecting bridge to the other side but the presence of people was probably a deterrent for them.”
Dr Braczkowski believes the lions' unusual behaviour is a direct symptom of some of his previous research that highlights the impacts of skewed sex ratios in lion populations.
“Jacob and Tibu’s big swim is another important example that some of our most beloved wildlife species are having to make tough decisions just to find homes and mates in a human-dominated world."
The paper 'Long distance swimming by African Lions in Uganda’ has been published in Ecology and Evolution.
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