Ewaso Lions

Category: Lions | Date: Sep 04 2008 | By: ewasolions

I returned to Echo Lima camp on the evening of the 24th of July from the reserve. Jeneria greeted us and immediately told me of an abandoned elephant calf that had been killed by lions.

The day before, the community scouts had come across a young 6-8 month old elephant in the Conservation Area of West Gate Community Conservancy late in the evening. The family was nowhere to be seen and it was clear that the calf got lost or somehow had been abandoned. The bush in this area is very very thick – in fact it contains the most bush in the entire Conservation Area. Maybe the family left the river area and wandered into the hills leaving the calf behind?

The scouts returned to the site that morning and stumbled across 4 lions who had killed the young calf during the night. When I received this report from Jeneria, I rushed immediately to the site. Luckily I had the GPS location of the elephant that the scouts had provided me.

The terrain was tough and I struggled to get close to the GPS location. It was getting late as I was finally able to maneuver my way round to the site of the elephant carcass. We stumbled across 2 male lions (see Real Lions 2) feeding on the elephant just as it got dark.

We left after about 10 minutes as I did not want to disturb the lions on their kill. I returned to the site a few weeks later and we walked to the carcass through the thick bush. I was surprised to see that the carcass was still pretty much intact and the hyenas had not finished it off.

However, I returned a few days ago to find it almost gone. The jaw, skull and other bones were scattered. There was a small hole in the thick Salvadora bush where the lions had obviously rested whilst feeding on their kill.

Remains of the elephant calf

The young calf’s jaw

This was the first time that I have seen lions kill an elephant in the region. The last report was in 2002, when a young calf in Samburu National Reserve was killed by some females. A few months ago, Nabo, Uni and Nashipai did have a go at chasing a young calf only to have the mother come tearing out of the bushes and chase the lions away. During my years in Samburu, I have only seen lions feeding on elephants that have died from natural causes.
Thanks for all your comments on Real Lions and the maneless males of Samburu. I will reply to your questions soon!