Dramatic moment lioness gets tossed into air by buffalo

It's normally the lion that is at the top of the food chain. 

But for one tragic lioness her last chance at survival slipped through her claws and almost ended up killing her in the process. 

Her final few days were captured on film at Kruger National Park in South Africa, showing her clearly emaciated and lying exhausted on the floor before a buffalo flips and launches her into the air.  

Lions are the only type of wild big cats to live in prides. Other big cats live solitary lives except when they are breeding or raising their young. 

For this lonesome female, her solace could be explained by another male lion taking over her pride and forcing her out. 

It is uncommon to see a lone female as they usually stay in their pride for their entire lives raising their young within the group. 

 

Without the safety and security of her pride, she has been unable to hunt and feed herself and is starving and injured.

 

Bathabile Shakwane, a 22-year-old field guide, explained to Latestsightings.com: “We were just leisurely driving down from Satara towards Skukuza on a relatively hot day. We were rewarded with lots of buffalo sightings. 

'We stopped in at Kumana dam and happened to notice a lone lioness lying in the bushes nearby a herd of buffalo.

'A single buffalo bull seemed to notice the lioness lying in the bushes and decided to tread carefully towards the lioness to see what she was up to.

'At that point, the buffalo got a bit too close for comfort and the lioness got a fright and tried to flee the situation. 

'Once she got up, we noticed how terribly thin and weak she was looking and then I realised that this meal was a matter of life and death for her.

'Unfortunately, in the condition she was in there was no chance she would be able to take down a healthy buffalo of that size on her own. 

'The buffalo realised her vulnerable state and flung her up into the air like a ragdoll.

'She managed to get away from the buffalo unscathed. It was clear, though, that lioness was not going to live much longer on her own and I can only imagine she would have died of hunger at the end of the day.

'The video is kind of tragic but just that scene was beyond amazing for me because you don’t get to see this every day.”  

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