ByMyReckoning

Last night the BBC aired the eagerly awaited 'Great Plains' episode of the wildlife show Planet Earth containing footage of lions in Savuti Botswana hunting and killing elephants. Up until this footage was captured, the wider world had never suspected that lions, one of natures most efficient and fearsome land predators, were capable of tackling elephants. Apparently naturalists were informed by local wildlife guides, that a pride of lions had began to hunt and kill baby, adolescent and sometimes even adult elephants, but had dismissed this information as heresay.

Although there are occasional reports of lions attacking injured or sick elephants. This behaviour, involving regular nightime hunts, is believed to be born of desperate hunger experienced during periods of drought. Presumably after killing a young or weak elephant. The lions soon adjusted their hunting strategies, seeking their new quarry at night when their superior night vision gives them the edge over their much bigger prey. The crew witnessed the lions kill eight adolescents and harass several adults without success. The captured footage was viewed as so potentially upsetting, that it was edited to remove the more graphic details.

Media reaction to this has been interesting. I've been struck by how selective our empathy for animals is. In particular our attachment to our furry cousins and animals which exhibit behavioural traits we see as being more 'human'. This program has located an area of conflicting loyalties. Lions are seen as regal rulers of the jungle and now people have to face the fact that these creatures are ruthless hunters even willing to kill and eat another of our favourites ... the elephant. Predictably the BBC are expecting to received some complaints from the viewing public.

Even the film crew, people used to witnessing the harsh realities of the wild, were affected by what they saw. One member of the crew, producer John Keeling said "It seems irreverent watching a noble beast being killed. Elephants are such honourable animals," Keeling says grimly. "It's just unbelievable. The lions are trying to kill every night, even though their bellies are full. They are just machines."

That utterance exposed how even someone who works closely with animals and supposedly possessed of a more realistic point of view was affected. How can an elephant be honourable? Lions are no more killing machines than any other organism that preys on another. I wonder, is this reaction confined to a western anthropomorphic sensibility? One trained from birth to regard animals as talking, fluffy companions by cartoons and Hollywood movies? How far removed from reality have we become? I wonder how the local wildlife guides who originally alerted us to this phenomenon view the fact that elephants have become prey to lions?

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