The Next Generation Lion
Thanks to TC over at Leather Penguin for sending us this vital alert about the Animal Uprising™. It seems that National Geographic has stumbled on the secret laboratory where the next generation of killer lion is being developed, located on an island in Botswana's Okavango Delta. The animal beastmasters have developed a swimming lion that can take down a full grown buffalo!
Fearless, ferocious and mightier than the world has ever seen, this is the new breed of super-lion.
Only one species of prey holds its attention: the buffalo — and in order to bring its powerful foe to the ground, it will take to deep water, use sophisticated hunting techniques and then silence the gigantic beast with a single swipe of a savage paw.
In a remote corner of Africa, an extraordinary evolutionary tale is unfolding, uncovered by the actor Jeremy Irons and an award-winning documentary team. A new film, Relentless Enemies, will tell the story of the emergence of a distinct subspecies of big cat on a tiny and isolated island in the Duba Plains of Botswana's Okavango Delta.
It also delves into a dark secret at the heart of this special community of lions. For during the investigation into the Duba lions, it emerged that a killer is embedded in their midst — a threat which might eventually spell the end of this incredible biological journey and the lion's quest for survival.
Irons, who most famously starred in the TV series Brideshead Revisited, describes the scene in this 'magical world', where two great warriors live side by side in the most beautiful terrain.
"There is an unusual pride of lions stalking these swamps," he says. "They are cats that live in water and hunt a single herd of Cape buffalo. Evolution favours predators that can hunt a range of prey. But these lions are defying that trend by becoming specialists. These huge lions are adapting and breeding in isolation on an island in a river that goes nowhere."
So how has this new strain of lion developed? To answer this question, the South African husband-and-wife film-makers Beverly and Dereck Joubert spent two years tracking their prey in order to capture evolution in the making.
"We discovered this tiny sandy island in the Okavango," says Dereck. "It is extraordinary because it became totally isolated from the mainland 15 years ago when the course of the river changed, and a huge herd of buffalo and lions were trapped on a piece of land measuring 200 square kilometres."
You've all been to zoos where the lions are separated from people by a moat. That won't work anymore, will it? Read the whole thing. There may be a human sympathizer among the monsters trying to save us all!
By BubbaB, Friday, 17 November , 2006 @ 2:14 pm
Well, there goes my next trip to the zoo…