The king of the jungle – lion, sitting at the top of the food chain and weighing approximately 500 pounds can easily take down any prey it desires for food, especially the smaller ones. Although lions are regarded as ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀᴏᴜs predators in the savanna, when ʜᴜɴᴛing porcupines, the little rodent typically prevails.
Porcupines are herbivorous animals that weigh only 5 to 12 kilos and grow to be 60 to 90 centimeters long. They get their nutrition from twigs, leaves, and different plants. Since they are tiny rodents, their sole weapon of choice for defense is their quills. On the other hand, lions are powerful predators that eat other animals. They would even turn to eating porcupines when food was scarce.
According to studies, the lions’ natural prey are becoming less common, forcing them to eat these little animals. However, because porcupines have quills, they get ʜᴜʀᴛ when they ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋ them.
The same substance that makes up our hair and nails also makes up a porcupine’s quill. When the lion or other predators ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋ them without exercising sufficient caution, the quill of the porcupine gets caught on their flesh. The majority of the injured or worse, ᴅᴇᴀᴅ victims are young, inexperienced male lions. Being young, they are unaware that porcupines can offer serious ʀɪsᴋs.
Because the number of their prey is declining (caused by excessive ʜᴜɴᴛing or poaching), certain predators like the lion, resort to consuming creatures that are typically not part of their diet. The number of lion assaults on porcupines has substantially increased in recent years. If this issue is not resolved, the ecology may become more unbalanced.
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Source: Latest Sightings