A Brown Hyena was foraging when a young lioness snuck up and gave it a big fright; the rare sighting was caught on camera – take a look.
Klein Karoo, South Africa (01 February 2022) – A quick-footed Brown Hyena made a vocal getaway when a playful lioness snuck upon it during a recent wildlife sighting. The video has social media users in awe of the altercation.
The Brown Hyena is very different from its famous cousins, the Spotted Hyena. Brown Hyenas are considered a very rare sighting as they can be quite elusive in nature, as they mostly venture out at night. They reside in the desert, semi-desert, and open woodland savannahs. They are most often found in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa.
Latest Sightings shared a recent sighting of a lioness sneaking up on an unsuspecting Brown Hyena. 36-year-old Senior trails guide Jordan Davidson filmed the sighting while on a safari with his guests at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve.
“Out in the Klein Karoo on Sanbona Wildlife Reserve, we had departed on our morning drive in the hopes of catching the lions awake and walking before they found the shade and flopped down for the day.”
“One of the guides called in a brown hyena sighting, but with a youngish lioness stalking it. We were a few minutes drive away, and my initial thought was that we were going to miss the action. I took the chance and spoke to my guests and told them the situation. We decided to leave the hippo in a little pan and find the lioness.”
“As we approached the area, we spotted the lioness stalking through the khanna bushes on a deeply eroded channel. Further south along the opposite channel we saw the hyena sniffing, walking, and foraging. It had no idea that the lioness was nearby!”
“The lioness isn’t part of a pride and lives on her own for the time being. Brown hyenas live in clans but forage and scavenge on their own. They are a very cryptic animal, hardly ever seeing them out and about during the daylight hours. Luckily for us, it was a very cold morning with cloud cover which allowed for this hyena to stay out longer. I was extremely interested in seeing how the hyena was going to defend itself against a lion whose strength is incredible.”
“I quickly managed to pull up alongside to where the hyena was situated and waited. It didn’t take long for the action to unfold. She launched her attack; we were surprised to see that she didn’t finish the kill. She was possibly in a playful mood, or the hyenas’ strange noises put her off, or it could even have been that the long fur allowed the hyena to slip through her claws and confuse her.”
“Nonetheless, it was a fantastic sighting! I have personally been waiting years for this specific encounter to happen.”
“The Klein Karoo where Sanbona is located is unique from a wildlife/habitat point of view. It straddles both the fynbos as well as the succulent Karoo biomes. The landscapes offer a visual feast, with plenty to find; it’s like a living jewellery box with its diversity of succulents. All this coupled with an abundance of animals allows for truly unique encounters that one doesn’t find anywhere else.” – Jordan Davidson.
This isn’t the first time we have shared a Brown Hyena sighting, though; we shared a very rare sighting of a Brown Hyena chasing an Aardvark back in 2020, which you can watch here.
Take a look at the lioness sneaking up on the Brown Hyena below.
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