Wild Things

GoPro Captures Rare POV Footage of a Lion on the Hunt

Is there currently a scenario rattling around your head in which you could possibly outrun, outwit, or outhunt a lioness on the prowl? Well, you should probably go ahead and delete that one from your mental checklist of survival skills. Thanks to the man aptly dubbed “the lion whisperer,” we can now see, firsthand (in the video above), just how lethal lions are on the hunt.

Animal behaviorist Kevin Richardson’s close, familylike relationship with a pride of lions outside of Pretoria, South Africa (of which I am more jealous than anything in the world) allowed him to strap a GoPro camera to the back of Meg, an impressive lioness whom Richardson describes as “boisterous” and “game for anything.” Once the action cam was mounted between her imposing, muscle-bound shoulders, it didn’t take long before it captured some action, as Meg quickly took off in pursuit of her next meal.

“Lions are what is known as an apex predator. They’re the top of the food chain, very strong, very agile, and very fast,” says Richardson in a voiceover, as the POV footage of Meg stalking her prey rolls. “If they do hunt alone, they’ll generally sneak up as close as possible to the prey, and then make a sprint for it.”

Check, and checkmate. Meg sticks to the apex predator playbook the whole way, the unlucky waterbuck barely entering the camera’s view before it’s in her mouth. Silent, fast, and deadly—the poor thing never stood a chance. Thus proving, once again, that lions are the most badass animals on the planet.

For more on Meg, Kevin, and why we should all be doing more to protect the world’s remaining lion population, you can watch a short documentary here.