The male lion with a missing leg and its brother swim across a river approximately 1.6 km long, teeming with hippos and crocodiles, in search of a mate.
On a February evening, two male lions stood in the shallow waters of the Kazinga River in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, attempting to cross the river. The opposite bank was nearly 1.6 km away. The Kazinga River can reach depths of up to 6 meters in some areas and is famous for having the highest density of hippos in the world, along with crocodiles measuring nearly 5 meters long. Just 12 hours earlier, the two lions had lost a territorial battle but were fortunate to survive. Staying on this side of the river was perilous, and they could hear the distant roars of lionesses, according to Wire New Fax.
Lion Jacob lost a leg due to a poacher’s trap. (Photo: Alex Braczkowski).
Like many felines, lions are not fond of swimming. One of them, named Jacob, has only three legs. He lost a leg due to a poacher’s trap in 2020. However, both Jacob and his brother Tibu did not back down. The two large cats embarked on the longest swim ever recorded for lions. Researchers described their findings in a forthcoming article in the journal Ecology and Evolution.
The duo struggled during their three attempts to cross the river. In the second attempt, a drone tracking them detected a significant heat signature that could have been a crocodile or a hippo following them. The two male lions separated in a Y-shape before hastily returning to shore. Less than an hour after their first attempt, they decided to try again for the third time. The path seemed clear, and they continued swimming until they finally crossed the river. Alexander Braczkowski, a conservation biologist working with Griffith University in Australia and Northern Arizona University, who has been studying the lion brothers since 2017, remarked that their river crossing was quite thrilling.
The Kazinga River cuts through the national park. Dr. Braczkowski and his colleagues spotted Jacob and his brother on the other side of the river three times. They believe they swam back and forth between the two banks. However, they lacked evidence showing they swam the entire distance.
Researchers have observed lions swimming in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, but rarely beyond 46 meters. In 2012, a lion swam about 100 meters across the Zambezi River from Zimbabwe to Zambia. In November 2023, a young male lion swam across the Rufiji River in southern Tanzania, covering a distance of 300 meters on the surface. There is evidence that lions swim between the shores of Lake Kariba, which lies on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe and an island within the lake, a distance of nearly one kilometer, although this has never been confirmed by video.
Other big cats are more skilled in the water. Jaguars are known for hunting caiman along rivers in Brazil. A study in 2022 revealed a mountain lion in the Puget Sound off the coast of Washington swimming nearly 1.2 km. In the same year, a female tiger swam a similar distance to cross the Brahmaputra River in northern India.
However, Dr. Braczkowski estimates that the two lions in Uganda swam nearly 1.6 km across the Kazinga River. Why would they undertake such a dangerous river crossing? According to Craig Packer, who has led the Serengeti Lion Project for 35 years, their motivation is to find a mate.
Local conditions also play a role in this behavior. According to Dr. Braczkowski, the lion population in the national park has decreased from 71 to 40 individuals in 2018, with at least 17 lions, mostly females, poisoned by nearby residents to protect livestock. The number of male lions is double that of females. “The male lions cannot find mates in their home range. The only females they can access are on the other side of the river,” Braczkowski explained. In that case, they may decide to seize the opportunity elsewhere.
