Lion Brothers Set a Record with a Daring Swim Across a Crocodile River

Two lion siblings have set a new record for long-distance swimming, crossing a dangerous river filled with crocodiles and hippos in a quest to find female mates. An H20T thermal camera mounted on a DJI Matrice 300 drone captured the nighttime swim across the Kazinga Channel in Uganda.

The footage shows Jacob and Tibu testing the waters before committing to the crossing, covering over 1.3 km (0.8 miles)—more than 10 times the distance previously recorded for lion swimming. Typically, African lions (Panthera leo) swim about 10-100 m (33-330 ft).

A Three-Legged Lion’s Epic Swim Across Perilous Waters

Making the feat even more remarkable is that 10-year-old Jacob, well-known to rangers and researchers in Queen Elizabeth National Park, only has three legs and is fortunate to be alive.

“Jacob has had the most incredible journey and truly is a cat with nine lives,” said Alexander Braczkowski from Griffith University in Australia. “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 the lion body part trade, he was caught in a poacher’s snare, and finally lost his leg in another attempted poaching incident involving a steel trap.”

Lions’ Persistence in Crossing the Kazinga Channel

The swim wasn’t without its challenges. In the video, the pair—known as a lion coalition—enter the water but quickly return to the safety of the riverbank. On their second attempt, they swim about 80 m (260 ft) before changing their minds and heading back to shore.

During the third attempt, only one lion ventures out but becomes spooked at a similar distance and returns to his brother. Just when it appeared they might remain stuck on one side of the channel, the pair ultimately decide to proceed with the crossing.

Though the video ends before the lions make it back to land, researchers later spotted Jacob and Tibu near a gorge close to where they crossed the channel. It’s an impressive achievement for the siblings, especially for Jacob, whose three-legged paddle was enough to avoid the river’s predators.

Jacob and Tibu’s Resilience in the Face of Predators

“His swim across a channel filled with hippos and crocodiles is a record-breaker and showcases his resilience,” said Braczkowski. “That Jacob and his brother Tibu have survived in a park with high poaching rates is a feat – our research shows this population has nearly halved in five years.”

Guided by energy costs, scientists believe Jacob and Tibu viewed this challenging journey as a life-or-death scenario to find a mate. With the park’s lion population dwindling, the swim seemed their only option.

“The brothers were likely looking for females,” said Braczkowski. “Competition for lionesses is fierce, and after losing a fight for affection, they likely undertook the risky journey to reach females across the channel.”

While a bridge connects the areas, the lions risked encountering humans there. Given Jacob’s past with poachers, he and his brother opted for the dangers of Nile crocodiles and hippos.

Their swim also highlights the threat of population fragmentation. Male lions disperse when they can’t find food, a mate, or face territorial conflicts. Fragmented habitats due to land clearing make reaching another population difficult, leading to isolation, resource competition, and inbreeding, ultimately causing numbers to decline.

For Jacob and Tibu, fortune favored them, but Braczkowski, who has been conducting a long-term study of the species and other predators in Ugandan national parks, observed that many lions wouldn’t have such a fortunate outcome from this perilous journey.

He added that Jacob and Tibu’s significant swim underscores how some of our most beloved wildlife species must make tough decisions to locate habitats and partners in a world dominated by humans.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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