Hwange National Park at 5:30 AM on September 20, 1999. Nine adult spotted hyenas followed a female elephant and her two calves – one calf about 5 years old and the other just born.
The day before, the mother and her young ones grazed peacefully among a herd of elephants, but the situation was now quite dire. The nine spotted hyenas surrounded the elephant family and charged forward, attempting to bite the younger calf’s legs.
The mother elephant rushed toward one of the spotted hyenas in an effort to drive it away from her calf, but this action did not seem to deter the other hyenas. The closer the calf stayed to its mother, the better, but it was still too young to know how to deal with the aggressive pack of hyenas, and it did not yet know how to protect itself or its sibling.
Hyenas are capable of hunting elephants.
Five minutes later, one spotted hyena bit the newborn calf’s tail and pulled it aside. The mother immediately chased after the hyena and followed it into a thicket about 10 meters away.
Clearly, this was an inexperienced mother elephant; in the seconds following her absence, the remaining spotted hyenas resumed their attack on the calf. One hyena even bit off the trunk of the poor calf.
The calf managed to separate from its mother and ran about 20 meters, but this time the mother learned her lesson and caught up just in time.
The nine spotted hyenas continued to hunt the newborn calf. In less than 10 minutes, at 5:45 AM, they had severely bitten one side of the newborn calf’s thigh and began feasting on it alive! Meanwhile, the mother and the other calf stood about 20 meters away, helpless to intervene.
Spotted hyenas and leopards both have records of hunting elephant calves.
Elephants are the largest land animals, with adults weighing between 3 to 6 tons. Due to their size and close-knit social structure, adult elephants are immune to large predators and have no natural enemies. However, elephants have a long maturation period, prefer water, and their calves are vulnerable to predation during their growth phase.
Lions, spotted hyenas, African wild dogs, and even leopards have been documented hunting elephant calves. For example, in Chobe National Park from 1993 to 1996, a pride of lions killed a total of 74 elephants during that period; from 1998 to 2004 in Hwange National Park, lions killed 44 elephants, accounting for 22% of their total prey; from October 8 to 25, 2005, a pride of super lions in Sauti, Botswana, killed elephants on a three-day cycle…
Why do these large carnivores shift from their usual prey to hunting elephants? What common factors exist when herds of elephants, numbering from dozens to hundreds, even thousands, fail to protect one or two calves?
Most elephants killed are considered solitary.
Records indicate that elephant hunting by lions is unevenly distributed throughout the year, with these activities concentrated during the driest times, mainly in October (the end of the dry season). No records of elephant killings have been noted from December to March (the months when 80% of the rainfall occurs).
Predation hotspots are scattered throughout the study area, but some locations are focal points for these incidents, especially the waterholes at Nemba, Sumba, and Somawindra. Many elephants search for water and gather in these areas, particularly in years when water sources within the park are very limited.
Research clearly shows that lion predation on elephants is closely linked to rainfall. When rainfall is below average, the number of elephants killed by lions significantly increases.
Elephants depend heavily on water, with each elephant needing an average of 80 to 160 liters of water daily. During the dry season, elephants congregate near water sources. As herbivores (eating more fibrous food than grazers), they consume a large amount of food daily, requiring 150 to 300 kg of vegetation, so high elephant density can damage their habitat.
In the context of food and water scarcity, along with significant social pressures, during prolonged dry spells, herds of elephants must travel long distances to forage and seek water sources. In this case, calves may not keep up with the herd and could be left behind or abandoned. During the dry season, the usual prey of large carnivores is also insufficient, making smaller elephants easier targets for lions and spotted hyenas.
Although most elephants killed are considered solitary, lions sometimes attempt to abduct elephants from herds. Researchers have recorded two instances of lions attacking elephant herds and capturing calves, one successful and one unsuccessful.
In one instance, four male lions and three female lions ambushed a small herd of elephants. A juvenile calf was caught but managed to drag one male lion about 10 meters before escaping. At the same time, a newborn calf (one month old) was captured and killed. According to the researchers’ explanation, when the calf was ambushed by the lions and fled, the herd panicked and could not protect the calf.
When rainfall is below average, the number of elephants killed by lions increases significantly.
In another instance, a herd of calves was attacked by a group of lions (one adult female, two 3.5-year-old males, and one 3.5-year-old female) in the brush surrounding a water source. One female lion jumped onto the back of a 5-6 year old calf that had fallen behind the herd. Two female elephants returned to protect the calf, allowing it to escape.
In summary, while adult elephants have no natural enemies, during the dry season when rainfall is scarce, many large carnivores such as lions, spotted hyenas, and wild dogs may lie in wait and hunt elephant calves, especially those that wander alone.
