African lions finish record swim in predator-infested river to find female mates

Observers have recorded a sight unbeknownst to the scientific community before. They documented a two-male African lion coalition crossing the Kazinga Channel in Uganda at night likely to find female mates, according to a statement by Griffith University.

A study conducted in collaboration with Griffith University and Northern Arizona University noted that the two lion brothers– Jacob and Tibu completed a record-breaking swim across the Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda.

Uganda Wildlife Authority supervised the filming, which employed high-definition heat detection cameras on drones.

Jacob & Tibu swim across predatory-infested waters

Jacob, a 10-year-old local is prominently known for surviving multiple life-threatening circumstances. One such incident left him with an amputated leg.

Dr. Alexander Braczkowski, from Griffith’s Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security who led the team stated that Jacob has had the most incredible journey and really is a cat with nine lives.

“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,” he added.

Braczkowski found it intriguing that Jacob and his brother – Tibu survived for as long as they did in a national park that was often under threat of human pressures and is known for heightened poaching .

“Our science has shown this population has nearly halved in just five years,” the scientist emphasized.

“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.”

When Interesting Engineering asked Braczkowski why the African lions were being observed particularly, he said that the team has been running a long-term lion population dynamics study in the park since 2017.

Fierce competition of lionesses

The observations showed that the lions are taking increased risks to find females in a system that has suffered from high levels of human-wildlife conflict but a low number of females.

Jacob and Tibu likely undertook the dangerous swim to reach females on the other side of the channel. Competition for lionesses is fierce in their park, and the brothers had lost a fight for female affection shortly before the swim.

The swim was particularly perilous due to the high densities of hippos and crocodiles in the channel.

Additionally, the duo might have been deterred by the presence of people around the small bridge connecting to the other side.

He told IE that high densities of people and towns/cities form strong barriers to movement and often prevent dispersal. However, where human densities are lower lions may move across these areas.

The next step in the research is finding solutions to stop more females dying in this system, Braczkowski says.

“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,” he said.

The study was published earlier today [July 10, 2024] in the journal – Ecology and Evolution .