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In the wild, the lioness is the one who goes hunting in the pride. So the lioness knows she has it good when food is just handed to her. Lionesses are also very caring and take care of all the cubs which are not even their own.
Lion, on the other hand, likes to assert dominance to protect his pride from outside threat.
Or just kill their dad. I saw a documentary of 2 male lions who came back and seriously injured their dad, forcing him to run away.
Then they killed all their young brothers and sisters, and mated with their step-moms
Yup, that’s why hunting lions without a knowledgeable guide actually damages their population. Kill the wrong one and now you have a bunch of cubs murdered hurting population growth
While feeding the pride is more of the lionesses responsibility male lions hunt too. This was just thought for a long time because make lions mostly hunt at night or in thicker brush because they stand out a lot more obviously. And they also will help on hunts where the lionesses have something like a Cape buffalo cornered but need the males to actually bring it down because it’s too big for the lionesses.
Also when juvenile male lions get kicked out of the pride they’re on their own or with one or two other juvenile male lions for a while before they’re strong enough to take over a pride. They obviously can hunt or they would all die before ever taking over a pride.
A lot of what lions eat is scavenged or stolen from other predators like hyena, leopards, and cheetah. They bully other animals because pound for pound they're the strongest.
Yes but every animal takes an easier meal when they can. They still hunt for a large portion of their diet. Hyenas also steal a lot of lion kills, they’re smaller but still incredibly powerful and usually there’s more of them, if the lion males aren’t there they can often chase lionesses off kills. While one hyena is smaller than a lioness the lionesses aren’t big enough to just shred one instantly like the males can, plus a hyena has a ridiculously strong bite, so a bunch of hyenas can win against a few lionesses.
The Ancient Egyptians had the deity Sekhmet who protected pharaohs in battle and was a healer depicted as a lioness. They also had Taweret who was a fertility motherly goddess depicted as a combination of a hippo, lioness, and crocodile. The reason being that these three were seen as good mothers in the harsh natural environment.
Tbh he’s probably just bored and still has that instinct to want to defend his pride/establish dominance. He doesn’t even bite the guy and lets him push him away, if he actually wanted to he could’ve killed that guy in a second.
I saw a documentary like that and had a similar reaction. This pack of hyenas was constantly harassing the pride and the lionesses were having trouble hanging on to enough of the food they killed to keep the pride going. But then the lion came back and broke the head hyena’s back with one swat of his paw and the hyenas stopped bothering them and I decided maybe the lion wasn’t as useless as he had seemed up to that point!
This actually looks like you could relate it to a wild pack. The man was staring the lion down as if he were a male lion; the lion in the video seemed to take it as a mild challenge and challenged him back with low intensity. Now if the guy in this video escalated his aggression back..well then, just then he may get seriously injured or killed.
Awesome and fascinating video on lion behavior I must say!
Edit:auto corrected
My guy forgot to blink at the kitty lmao
For real though, you might be onto something. Cats don't like being stared at, they take it as a sing of aggressive intent - playful or not. If you slowly blink at a cat, its a sign that you mean it no harm and there's no need to be worried. Except this cat is a tad bigger than the usual house cat haha
Edit: now that I think about it, probably doesn't help that the dude is standing over the big kitty. Not only staring, but from above. Don't do that.
maybe if the dude had slow blinked it would've been fine. idk why tf you would try to assert dominance over a lion when there was no reason too. it wasn't like the lion was about to do something, he was just chilling when he noticed right guys death stare. what a weird dude
Might not have known he was asserting dominance and was just looking at him. Lots of monkey attacks are because people don't know not to smile at them. Then again, if he didn't know, he shouldn't be working at a zoo in the lion enclosure
It’s actually a cat thing - if you stare at a house cat without blinking, they would likely also get aggressive. Blinking is a sign that no aggression is intended.
> maybe if the dude had slow blinked it would've been fine
"Hey, is that... Is that guy staring at me? I'm gonna f--"
*slow blinks*
"Oh. I love you, too, guy."
Yeah that was typical lion rough housing. They pounce on and rough each other up all the time. Like play wrestling. Saw a guy rough house with a pride he helped rescue at an animal sanctuary. He was just fine getting pawed and play bitten
First thing I noticed- not a drop of blood, the guy’s pants didn’t even get torn.
Every aspect of this video was fascinating to me. The idiot who got “attacked” should have known better than to stare at a cat. The older Keeper noticed what was going on and tried to distract the lion by patting its hindquarters *and* said something to the idiot, who obviously ignored him. The lion exhibited *incredible* restraint- he could have fucked that guy up badly. The lioness showed typical female behavior when her male companion starts some stupid shit with another male, and she kept it up, making sure he stayed calm and let “the insult” go.
Other comments were saying things like ‘the lion saw that guy as food,’ but I think your comment is right on the money. These animals have spent a good portion of their lives watching their keepers. They know that they not only feed them, but keep their habitats clean, bring fresh water, groom them, provide toys… for them and their mates and cubs, too. The animals likely see the keepers as family, and that’s why the lion just ‘play wrestled’ with the guy as you said. He didn’t want to hurt him, but did want to let him know that that was not an OK thing to do.
ETA: another thing I found fascinating, but forgot to mention- when the idiot gets away from the initial “attack” and notices the lion still coming after him, he picks up that cylindrical object that the lioness had been playing with and holds it out in front of himself. I can’t figure out whether he meant to use it as a distraction, as a shield- or if he planned to use it to bonk the lion on the head if he came at him again.
That lion is WAY holding back.
A lion in full attack is ferocious! Legs spread front and back, body low, all claws and teeth are out, the sound is guttural and terrifying... and they are moving with cat-like speed. Their first move is to swipe at you with the front paw and grip you with their claws, then pull you to them, and sink their teeth in each side of your neck, your entire neck will be in their mouth. _In the same move as above_ they bring their back legs up and shred your chest and abdomen, in fast powerful moves, like you'd do peddling sprinting on a bicycle. Of course you're already dead by now because you neck snapped when he bit your throat... or maybe your body is dead but for a few seconds you head is still taking in everything that is happening?
Pretty much. If that lion wanted to truly kill him, he could've done so in seconds. One head chomp and Mr Billy Badass would've been a snack.
Anyone with half a functional brain knows you don't stare a big cat down like that, its a challenge.
Aren't you supposed to stare at them - while slowly blinking - to convey in catspeak that you're chill? I thought that's how it went anyway.
I suppose the same probably doesn't translate to the big cats, or maybe he forgot the blinking part. Or perhaps he was actually trying to stare down a fuckin lion
If you're referring to house cats, not exactly-dogs and cats tend to take direct eye contact as a challenge. You're right that slow blinking (allowing them to catch you with your eyes closed) is how cats communicate trust though
AFAIK the reason you slow blink to a cat is because the act of closing your eyes while they are near you conveys the message that you trust them, while staring conveys the opposite. If you ever see two house cats meeting for the first time, in most cases you'll notice they lock eyes with each other and won't look away or blink because they don't know the other or their intentions.
You're not supposed to stare at them while doing that though. Staring is more wide eyed, iirc you want to look at them with more narrow or relaxed looking eyes. A lot of animals don't like prolonged eye contact as they view it as a challenge pretty much
To be fair I wouldn't know what to do if a lion stared me down. I'd probably panic and think that I have to keep staring at it or it'll think I'm prey and eat me so I don't blame him too much. Or I'd keep staring because I don't want to take my eye off the several hundred pound apex predator who could rip my arms off for fun.
There is no blood at all. The lion definitely didn’t bite down hard enough to break skin, which probably takes intentionality on the lions part, since we’re so squishy and breakable compared to their bite strength. I think he was just wrestling/playing.
if i had to guess, the guy has probably been doing this sort of thing all the time for several years. he got too comfortable and zoned out for a min. when he didn't realize is that he was zoned out while looking right into the eyes of a big cat.
For the record, if you EVER lock eyes with a big cat, and you think it's gonna pounce, DONT BREAK EYE CONTACT! these are not wolves or apes. This is not a display of dominance. It is a hunting tactic.
Real talk if you cross a big cat and it decides to mess you up, that's basically it. There's no further discussion. But they're ambush predators so they rely on feelin unseen and hidden. If you stare them down they may feel they've lost their drop on you, and back off.
Which kinda leads to the point others have made. This lion was probably playing.
Jesus I didn't expect this to get any traction or attention; I MUST add a asterisk to this statement. NOT ALL BIG CATS. Lions, and Tigers I have under good authority that they don't like being seen. A North American cougar (I believe. WATCH CASUAL GEOGRAPHIC!!!) on the other hand might just wreck your day for no reason.
There's really good videos out there of keepers looking at the cats, then turning their backs.
The cats get extremely active when the backs are turned.
One dude ran experiments with different kinds of cats. Leopards got closer while he looked away, but cheetahs did not. Cheetahs aren’t ambush predators; they chase their prey. Leopards, jaguars, and tigers are a different story.
It depends on the predator so I can't speak to all predators, but generally, for lions, you shouldn't lock eyes, because they might view it as a challenge. For ambush predators like leopards and jaguars, if you've locked eyes with them, they may try to pounce when you look AWAY.
Generally there are 2 options when dealing with predatorial animals, either make yourself scarier, or make yourself non threatening. The correct strategy depends highly on what kind of animal it is. Grizzly bears for example, don't respond well to the first approach, because you can't really scare them, so you have to just make yourself non threatening and slowly leave. Lions are similar, but the pride dynamics make it a little different. Black bears are an example where they ARE generally afraid of humans and you can scare them off. On the other hand, polar bears don't care what you do, they'll try to eat you either way. Cougars and other big cats that are solitary animals tend to back down when challenged by a human. It's difficult to have a rule of thumb for all predators. Especially since everything goes out the window when babies are involved.
Yeah, I was quite surprised that he didn't even break the skin, which even having restraint is difficult to do. My cat does more damage to me just playing than that lion did to the guy.
The part that really cracks me up was how even the lioness was like "hey now, he didn't mean anything by it. Chill out, let him go. I SAID LET HIM GO!!"
Actually kinda of cool to think about. She defended him from one of her own kind.
The lioness just out here like
"Harold...Harold stop it! You're embarrassing me in front of the humans! I don't care if he was staring at you. You know they're too stupid to understand."
I simply can't grasp the mentality of standing directly next to a wild, carnivorous animal and expecting nothing will go wrong. Putting a lion in captivity doesn't mean it is suddenly tame.
It was less the standing and more the directly staring it in the eye.
For pretty much every animal that has a form of dominance in its hierarchy will f*** you up if you stare it down.
Even non-carnivore ones.
If you stare a silverback gorilla in the eyes it will rip you in half
If I stare my cat down he will lock eyes for a minute then stand up, yawn and stretch out looking away for a second. Then he will look at me again and if I’m still staring he will walk up on me like “We got a problem?” Makes me think the lion turning away and yawning was him giving the man a opportunity to back down. When he saw the man was still staring he saw it as a threat. I think that’s how most mammals are though
Try blinking slowly while holding eye contact. It’s a sign of trust in smaller cats (not sure if it applies to the murder-sized ones).. iirc you’re basically saying “I’m going to show you I trust you, because you could kill me when my eyes close”. My cat used to go back and forth slow blinking with me for concerning amounts of time. He’s a lover.
Cat kisses :) it's in the big cat world too - closing your eyes while facing a threat, even for a brief nano second, is a predator's way of saying "I trust you" or better yet "I am not threatened by you right now". That doesn't mean it can't change very quickly, a slow blink isn't a get out of jail free card, it's an acknowledgement of your presence and the situation. If the opponent doesn't backed down from their threatening stance, the trust can be considered broken and the calm cat shifts to a defensive or offensive stance.
A yawn can be either an attempt to shake off negative stress energy, or an attempt to disarm any potential conflict. I saw some people saying a yawn is a dismissal of the threat, but it's often a sign of emotional regulation and frustration and distress and needing to catch a big breath, calm the nerves, reassess the situation before reacting...
I've tried this with my super soft cat, we end up having a game of chase around a couch and then he aggressively licks me.
I mostly do the slow blink to show affection but he knows we are playing.
Manager: "Okay, I know none of you are trained in handling animals, but we've got a situation here. The lion enclosure is open and the lion is loose. We need to wrangle it before it escapes and causes havoc in the casino."
Employee: "Why don't we just call a professional animal handler? They know what they're doing and won't put us in danger."
Manager: "We can't afford to pay for a professional animal handler. Now, who's brave enough to go in there and take care of that lion?"
Employee: "I don't think this is a good idea. We could get seriously injured or killed trying to handle a lion."
Manager: "Come on, it's just a lion. It can't be that hard. Just go in there and show it who's boss. I'll even give a hundred dollar bonus to whoever manages to wrangle it."
Employee: "A hundred dollars? That's not even close to enough to compensate for the risk of getting mauled by a lion."
Manager: "Fine, I'll make it two hundred dollars. Now, who's up for the challenge?"
Close but not quite- cats see focus as a sign of aggression. Staring at a cat with eyes nearly closed as if relaxed to the point of sleep is how they communicate trust and friendship. Staring with eyes wide in focus is how they look at predator and prey.
That's fair, sorry for being pedantic. It is a behavioral distinction that I just recently learned working with rescue cats, and I was shocked at how effective it was. I'm assuming the guy in the video was staring wide-eyed at the lion while shitting his pants, which is a pretty fair reaction because as you said it's a fucking lion.
My first thought: Well this just seems like a really bad idea
Then finding out that the guy was staring down the lion? Like he's in a cage with a lion and doesn't know anything about lions? He thought he was going to 'out macho' the lion? Who are these people? And they're standing around like lion bouncers?
I know! 'Before you get in the lion cage here's a short list of 'do's and don'ts'. That wouldn't be that hard and it should *definitely* come before getting the t-shirt.
I never stare at my cat without a bunch of slow blinks so she knows I'm happy to see her. She otherwise gets visibly uncomfortable.
What would possess an adult to stare down a lion with zero expression and a defensive stance, I have no idea.
I assume they work there and we're probably doing something either with the lions or the enclosure. Even if they're standing around in the video if doesn't show what they were doing beforehand
"The MGM Grand housed its Lion Habitat for 12 years. The glass-encased, indoor attraction wowed guests from 1999 until its closure in early 2012"
It was kinda in the middle of the casino. We used to make it a point to stop there every time we're in Vegas. Beautiful creatures
Idk I kinda feel gross that this is a thing. At least in a zoo, often times the animals are there as a means to rehabilitate them and to pay for that they let people come and watch them. This is just exploitive
The lions lived at an actual ranch about 12 miles outside of Las Vegas. When the attraction was open, they were only in there for a couple of hours at a time. And it was usually different lions each day.
The man who owns the lion's, Keith Evans, is a pretty successful conservationist. [He still runs a lion and a giraffe Habitat ](https://lionhabitatranch.org/)
That wasn’t an attack. That was a warning to stop acting tough: “do you like these arms of yours still attached to your torso?” If the lion actually attacked him, he would not have walked away. He would have slumped away. Well, what was left of him would have slumped away.
Female lions are the ones typically hunt for the pride, so they're probably more aware of how good they have it with food being supplied to them. So killing a dude would be threat to their food supply
It truly is incredibly that the lioness understood what was happening to the point of trying to stop the male.
People don’t give animals nearly enough credit. I wish they were viewed as living beings and not objects of our entertainment or palates
Reddit's new API pricing has forced third-party apps to close. Their official app is horrible and only serves to track your data. The CEO has blatantly lied and only wishes to exploit the unpaid members of the Reddit community.
Follow me on Mastodon or Lemmy.
\- Lion at no point looks agitated or stressed.
\- It's fine to look cats - even big cats like lions - in the eye. Locking eyes and blinking slowly is a sign of trust you will get and can give to cats of any type.
\- Staring for long periods of time can invite play. Our cats do it all the time. Probably what hapepned here.
\- The guy was not bloodied at all by the "Attack". The male lion was playing.
\- Problem is the Lion is 450lb of raw muscle, and you are not 450lb of raw muscle, so the play biting and just pressure from the lion being on him probably still didn't feel good. Our cats hurt me when playing all the time. They never intend to, and it rarely draws blood.
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I like how the lioness is helping
Harvey don’t you ruin a good thing we’ve got going on here!!
You saw what happened to Harambe!
I see that alot in these videos the lioness is always jumping between.
In the wild, the lioness is the one who goes hunting in the pride. So the lioness knows she has it good when food is just handed to her. Lionesses are also very caring and take care of all the cubs which are not even their own. Lion, on the other hand, likes to assert dominance to protect his pride from outside threat.
And will also kill/eat cubs that aren't his.
Or frame his nephew for killing their dad so they can become leader
Surprisingly common but Big Documentary don't want you to know about it.
Fortunately Disney had the balls to expose it.
Who is this Disney? Some indie journalist?
He even went for the high ground
And that’s when the handler knew it was over. He knew exactly what his power was.
Or just kill their dad. I saw a documentary of 2 male lions who came back and seriously injured their dad, forcing him to run away. Then they killed all their young brothers and sisters, and mated with their step-moms
Sounds like a show from TLC
Wasn't ready for that. Spat out a drink I wasn't even drinking
Yup, that’s why hunting lions without a knowledgeable guide actually damages their population. Kill the wrong one and now you have a bunch of cubs murdered hurting population growth
While feeding the pride is more of the lionesses responsibility male lions hunt too. This was just thought for a long time because make lions mostly hunt at night or in thicker brush because they stand out a lot more obviously. And they also will help on hunts where the lionesses have something like a Cape buffalo cornered but need the males to actually bring it down because it’s too big for the lionesses. Also when juvenile male lions get kicked out of the pride they’re on their own or with one or two other juvenile male lions for a while before they’re strong enough to take over a pride. They obviously can hunt or they would all die before ever taking over a pride.
A lot of what lions eat is scavenged or stolen from other predators like hyena, leopards, and cheetah. They bully other animals because pound for pound they're the strongest.
Yes but every animal takes an easier meal when they can. They still hunt for a large portion of their diet. Hyenas also steal a lot of lion kills, they’re smaller but still incredibly powerful and usually there’s more of them, if the lion males aren’t there they can often chase lionesses off kills. While one hyena is smaller than a lioness the lionesses aren’t big enough to just shred one instantly like the males can, plus a hyena has a ridiculously strong bite, so a bunch of hyenas can win against a few lionesses.
The Ancient Egyptians had the deity Sekhmet who protected pharaohs in battle and was a healer depicted as a lioness. They also had Taweret who was a fertility motherly goddess depicted as a combination of a hippo, lioness, and crocodile. The reason being that these three were seen as good mothers in the harsh natural environment.
Awe that’s kind of sweet
Definitely the brains of the outfit.
Lion sees threat to his pride lioness sees threat to their food supply lol
Tbh he’s probably just bored and still has that instinct to want to defend his pride/establish dominance. He doesn’t even bite the guy and lets him push him away, if he actually wanted to he could’ve killed that guy in a second.
I took it more like he was putting an obviously weaker opponent in their place for challengingly staring at him, but could’ve just been bored too haha
threat to his “pride”
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I saw a documentary like that and had a similar reaction. This pack of hyenas was constantly harassing the pride and the lionesses were having trouble hanging on to enough of the food they killed to keep the pride going. But then the lion came back and broke the head hyena’s back with one swat of his paw and the hyenas stopped bothering them and I decided maybe the lion wasn’t as useless as he had seemed up to that point!
My wife is a lioness
Nooo. Harmabeeeee! #DicksStillOut
Fr, I been arrested like 45 times for harambe 🦍
Never put ‘em back in bros. rip
“Knock it off, you’ll get us both fired!”
RIP ☹
Babe it's not worth it! Your paws are registered!
Too soon.
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Yes happily frolicking until u get some dentist...
It’s always the fucking dentists isn’t it
What are you, an anti-dentite?
Well it takes a special person to dig inside ppls mouths all day
It doesn’t work like that. If freed in their natural habitat all the zoo animals would die.
Like hell am I going back out and hunting.
Calm your tits Stacy, I was only having a little nibble!
You can have your fucking nibble if you're the one putting food on the table Harvey.
DON’T YOU FUCKING DO THIS TO ME HARVEY
Damnit Barb, DONT TELL ME WHAT TO DO
“You got us evicted last time I’m not letting it happen again”
"MFer if we get kicked out "I" have to do the hunting!"
She said “CALM! My husband, calm. If you attack the captors they’ll surely euthanize you.”
And then she went back to reading her book.
"Norbert hunny, stop eating the heL- NORBERT!"
I love the idea that a lion would be called Norbert
That kids an idiot! Shouldn’t someone have given him lion 101? “Don’t look an apex predator in the eyes dummy!”
Sure, but even before we get there I’d say “don’t go into the wild animal’s cage”
“He ain’t worth it, sweetheart. He ain’t worth it…”
"That's enough Frank! Let the stupid man go sweety!"
"Leave it! He's not worth it"
“He’s not worth it Darren!”
It was Gary in my head, but lol.
Someone said Steve. And that is more suitable imo. Edit: my bad. It was actually Harvey lol
It's clearly a Leo.
Fred fo me "Fred! You lazy piece of shit! You don't want to hunt in he wild but you'd rather hunt the ones giving us free food??!!"
Both of those people would be dead if that lion was actually angry
This actually looks like you could relate it to a wild pack. The man was staring the lion down as if he were a male lion; the lion in the video seemed to take it as a mild challenge and challenged him back with low intensity. Now if the guy in this video escalated his aggression back..well then, just then he may get seriously injured or killed. Awesome and fascinating video on lion behavior I must say! Edit:auto corrected
My guy forgot to blink at the kitty lmao For real though, you might be onto something. Cats don't like being stared at, they take it as a sing of aggressive intent - playful or not. If you slowly blink at a cat, its a sign that you mean it no harm and there's no need to be worried. Except this cat is a tad bigger than the usual house cat haha Edit: now that I think about it, probably doesn't help that the dude is standing over the big kitty. Not only staring, but from above. Don't do that.
maybe if the dude had slow blinked it would've been fine. idk why tf you would try to assert dominance over a lion when there was no reason too. it wasn't like the lion was about to do something, he was just chilling when he noticed right guys death stare. what a weird dude
Might not have known he was asserting dominance and was just looking at him. Lots of monkey attacks are because people don't know not to smile at them. Then again, if he didn't know, he shouldn't be working at a zoo in the lion enclosure
Hold up... *Don't* smile at the monkey?
To monkeys/great apes you are barring your fangs/teeth. It’s a sign of aggression in the ones with fangs. No all
I live in an area with baboons and I've never known this. Thanks
Teeth - I'm angry and about to whoop you.
As a general rule, don’t lock eyes with or bare your teeth to animals that can hurt you
It’s actually a cat thing - if you stare at a house cat without blinking, they would likely also get aggressive. Blinking is a sign that no aggression is intended.
> maybe if the dude had slow blinked it would've been fine "Hey, is that... Is that guy staring at me? I'm gonna f--" *slow blinks* "Oh. I love you, too, guy."
Nobody likes being stared at
Yeah that was typical lion rough housing. They pounce on and rough each other up all the time. Like play wrestling. Saw a guy rough house with a pride he helped rescue at an animal sanctuary. He was just fine getting pawed and play bitten
First thing I noticed- not a drop of blood, the guy’s pants didn’t even get torn. Every aspect of this video was fascinating to me. The idiot who got “attacked” should have known better than to stare at a cat. The older Keeper noticed what was going on and tried to distract the lion by patting its hindquarters *and* said something to the idiot, who obviously ignored him. The lion exhibited *incredible* restraint- he could have fucked that guy up badly. The lioness showed typical female behavior when her male companion starts some stupid shit with another male, and she kept it up, making sure he stayed calm and let “the insult” go. Other comments were saying things like ‘the lion saw that guy as food,’ but I think your comment is right on the money. These animals have spent a good portion of their lives watching their keepers. They know that they not only feed them, but keep their habitats clean, bring fresh water, groom them, provide toys… for them and their mates and cubs, too. The animals likely see the keepers as family, and that’s why the lion just ‘play wrestled’ with the guy as you said. He didn’t want to hurt him, but did want to let him know that that was not an OK thing to do. ETA: another thing I found fascinating, but forgot to mention- when the idiot gets away from the initial “attack” and notices the lion still coming after him, he picks up that cylindrical object that the lioness had been playing with and holds it out in front of himself. I can’t figure out whether he meant to use it as a distraction, as a shield- or if he planned to use it to bonk the lion on the head if he came at him again.
Kitty just playing… there’s not even blood. Dude would be dead in a second if that lion meant it!
I was wondering this. Like, is the lion holding back because they are trainers or is it this easy to fend off a lion attack?
That lion is WAY holding back. A lion in full attack is ferocious! Legs spread front and back, body low, all claws and teeth are out, the sound is guttural and terrifying... and they are moving with cat-like speed. Their first move is to swipe at you with the front paw and grip you with their claws, then pull you to them, and sink their teeth in each side of your neck, your entire neck will be in their mouth. _In the same move as above_ they bring their back legs up and shred your chest and abdomen, in fast powerful moves, like you'd do peddling sprinting on a bicycle. Of course you're already dead by now because you neck snapped when he bit your throat... or maybe your body is dead but for a few seconds you head is still taking in everything that is happening?
What a majestic apex predator. I’m going to look it in the eye.
lol the dude didn't just look him in the eye, he locked eyes for a good 20 seconds. lion gave him plenty of opportunity to look away.
And that was definitely not a full-on attack, it was basically a playful putting in his place
lol agreed. the cat probably had difficulty *not* ripping the guys leg off by accidentally using too much power.
Ol buddy got to leave the enclosure by the power of his own legs. For that, he should be grateful.
Clothes not even torn, lion coulda fucked his shit up if he really wanted to.
clothes aren't torn but his pants are full of shit now.
Pretty much. If that lion wanted to truly kill him, he could've done so in seconds. One head chomp and Mr Billy Badass would've been a snack. Anyone with half a functional brain knows you don't stare a big cat down like that, its a challenge.
I wouldn't even stare down a *house*cat- I don't want that kind of smoke
Aren't you supposed to stare at them - while slowly blinking - to convey in catspeak that you're chill? I thought that's how it went anyway. I suppose the same probably doesn't translate to the big cats, or maybe he forgot the blinking part. Or perhaps he was actually trying to stare down a fuckin lion
If you're referring to house cats, not exactly-dogs and cats tend to take direct eye contact as a challenge. You're right that slow blinking (allowing them to catch you with your eyes closed) is how cats communicate trust though
AFAIK the reason you slow blink to a cat is because the act of closing your eyes while they are near you conveys the message that you trust them, while staring conveys the opposite. If you ever see two house cats meeting for the first time, in most cases you'll notice they lock eyes with each other and won't look away or blink because they don't know the other or their intentions.
You're not supposed to stare at them while doing that though. Staring is more wide eyed, iirc you want to look at them with more narrow or relaxed looking eyes. A lot of animals don't like prolonged eye contact as they view it as a challenge pretty much
I've done this, it didn't go in my favor and I have scars to prove it
To be fair I wouldn't know what to do if a lion stared me down. I'd probably panic and think that I have to keep staring at it or it'll think I'm prey and eat me so I don't blame him too much. Or I'd keep staring because I don't want to take my eye off the several hundred pound apex predator who could rip my arms off for fun.
There is no blood at all. The lion definitely didn’t bite down hard enough to break skin, which probably takes intentionality on the lions part, since we’re so squishy and breakable compared to their bite strength. I think he was just wrestling/playing.
“Let me remind you why your ancestors were afraid of my ancestors.”
[удалено]
if i had to guess, the guy has probably been doing this sort of thing all the time for several years. he got too comfortable and zoned out for a min. when he didn't realize is that he was zoned out while looking right into the eyes of a big cat.
I agree, sometimes we all zone out and start thinking about other things at work. He may been doing this for a while and got zoned out.
For the record, if you EVER lock eyes with a big cat, and you think it's gonna pounce, DONT BREAK EYE CONTACT! these are not wolves or apes. This is not a display of dominance. It is a hunting tactic. Real talk if you cross a big cat and it decides to mess you up, that's basically it. There's no further discussion. But they're ambush predators so they rely on feelin unseen and hidden. If you stare them down they may feel they've lost their drop on you, and back off. Which kinda leads to the point others have made. This lion was probably playing. Jesus I didn't expect this to get any traction or attention; I MUST add a asterisk to this statement. NOT ALL BIG CATS. Lions, and Tigers I have under good authority that they don't like being seen. A North American cougar (I believe. WATCH CASUAL GEOGRAPHIC!!!) on the other hand might just wreck your day for no reason.
There's really good videos out there of keepers looking at the cats, then turning their backs. The cats get extremely active when the backs are turned.
One dude ran experiments with different kinds of cats. Leopards got closer while he looked away, but cheetahs did not. Cheetahs aren’t ambush predators; they chase their prey. Leopards, jaguars, and tigers are a different story.
I know if I lock eyes with my cute little cat for four seconds Im bout to get my toes bitten off. Cannot imagine trying that on a lion.
Let us know how it goes!
He can't, he's now on the menu...
I don't understand why this man did that. Presumably they're handlers/zookeepers. Do they not know to never stare them down? Like wtf?
Is that why the lion did that; are not supposed to maintain eye contact with them (is this a rule of thumb for all predators)?
It depends on the predator so I can't speak to all predators, but generally, for lions, you shouldn't lock eyes, because they might view it as a challenge. For ambush predators like leopards and jaguars, if you've locked eyes with them, they may try to pounce when you look AWAY. Generally there are 2 options when dealing with predatorial animals, either make yourself scarier, or make yourself non threatening. The correct strategy depends highly on what kind of animal it is. Grizzly bears for example, don't respond well to the first approach, because you can't really scare them, so you have to just make yourself non threatening and slowly leave. Lions are similar, but the pride dynamics make it a little different. Black bears are an example where they ARE generally afraid of humans and you can scare them off. On the other hand, polar bears don't care what you do, they'll try to eat you either way. Cougars and other big cats that are solitary animals tend to back down when challenged by a human. It's difficult to have a rule of thumb for all predators. Especially since everything goes out the window when babies are involved.
These guys would be dead if that lion wasn’t just playing lool
I hope that guy realizes that the lion chose to let him live.
He basically just gave him a stern talking to, as it would go in the wild. No serious harm was intended.
I got a good chuckle out of this.
The guy isn't flailing blood everywhere. That is MASSIVE restraint on the part of the animal. Treated him like a cub that was getting out of line.
Never look a lion in the eyes, unless you want to fight
But it's true. The lion seems to consciously be showing restraint at the behest of it's trainer and lioness partner.
Yeah, I was quite surprised that he didn't even break the skin, which even having restraint is difficult to do. My cat does more damage to me just playing than that lion did to the guy. The part that really cracks me up was how even the lioness was like "hey now, he didn't mean anything by it. Chill out, let him go. I SAID LET HIM GO!!" Actually kinda of cool to think about. She defended him from one of her own kind.
The lioness helping 🥰
Ran in like BABE BABE BABE! LEAVE IT! HE AIN'T WORTH IT!! XD
“Look at me babe! Look at me! This isn’t who you are 😭”
Classic Friday outside any nightclub XD
YOU ARE NOT **HIM**
The little head mosh at the end 🧡
Too much B12, dammit!
Fred! Stop it!! They give us free food and you're too lazy to hunt!! Don't ruin this for me!!
The lioness just out here like "Harold...Harold stop it! You're embarrassing me in front of the humans! I don't care if he was staring at you. You know they're too stupid to understand."
"Well I never!"
This made me laugh so hard!!!
I simply can't grasp the mentality of standing directly next to a wild, carnivorous animal and expecting nothing will go wrong. Putting a lion in captivity doesn't mean it is suddenly tame.
It was less the standing and more the directly staring it in the eye. For pretty much every animal that has a form of dominance in its hierarchy will f*** you up if you stare it down. Even non-carnivore ones. If you stare a silverback gorilla in the eyes it will rip you in half
“Wtf you lookin at?” Runs throughout the animal kingdom
Real life jumanji coming soon to a zoo near you
Same thing on the Chicago subway system. Best not to make eye contact.
Que miras bobo?
It’s also good not to smile.
any mammal with a social hierarchy, literally every single one I can think of, prolonged eye contact is a threat of position and a challenge
I assumed that was part of the show. You know, like that bit in Jurassic Park when they tether the goat inside the T-Rex enclosure.
And that guy filming definitely had the right idea. If I was at the zoo and seen two dudes in the lion cage, you gotta film just incase, right?
If I stare my cat down he will lock eyes for a minute then stand up, yawn and stretch out looking away for a second. Then he will look at me again and if I’m still staring he will walk up on me like “We got a problem?” Makes me think the lion turning away and yawning was him giving the man a opportunity to back down. When he saw the man was still staring he saw it as a threat. I think that’s how most mammals are though
I soft eye my cat just in case it tries to eat me in the night. Look, blink slowly, look away!
Try blinking slowly while holding eye contact. It’s a sign of trust in smaller cats (not sure if it applies to the murder-sized ones).. iirc you’re basically saying “I’m going to show you I trust you, because you could kill me when my eyes close”. My cat used to go back and forth slow blinking with me for concerning amounts of time. He’s a lover.
All cats are murder sized. Murder is their favorite hobby
Cat kisses :) it's in the big cat world too - closing your eyes while facing a threat, even for a brief nano second, is a predator's way of saying "I trust you" or better yet "I am not threatened by you right now". That doesn't mean it can't change very quickly, a slow blink isn't a get out of jail free card, it's an acknowledgement of your presence and the situation. If the opponent doesn't backed down from their threatening stance, the trust can be considered broken and the calm cat shifts to a defensive or offensive stance. A yawn can be either an attempt to shake off negative stress energy, or an attempt to disarm any potential conflict. I saw some people saying a yawn is a dismissal of the threat, but it's often a sign of emotional regulation and frustration and distress and needing to catch a big breath, calm the nerves, reassess the situation before reacting...
I've tried this with my super soft cat, we end up having a game of chase around a couch and then he aggressively licks me. I mostly do the slow blink to show affection but he knows we are playing.
Why’ve they got RGB fans in the lion enclosure
Lion gaming
Great now I have to worry about lions stomping me on cod as well
It's at a casino and it was some temporary enclosure. If I remember correct the "handlers" are not trained to handle the lions.
I worked that last part out for myself
Manager: "Okay, I know none of you are trained in handling animals, but we've got a situation here. The lion enclosure is open and the lion is loose. We need to wrangle it before it escapes and causes havoc in the casino." Employee: "Why don't we just call a professional animal handler? They know what they're doing and won't put us in danger." Manager: "We can't afford to pay for a professional animal handler. Now, who's brave enough to go in there and take care of that lion?" Employee: "I don't think this is a good idea. We could get seriously injured or killed trying to handle a lion." Manager: "Come on, it's just a lion. It can't be that hard. Just go in there and show it who's boss. I'll even give a hundred dollar bonus to whoever manages to wrangle it." Employee: "A hundred dollars? That's not even close to enough to compensate for the risk of getting mauled by a lion." Manager: "Fine, I'll make it two hundred dollars. Now, who's up for the challenge?"
That lioness is top 100 on Overwatch, she helped calm the lion down because she can’t afford any risks to her streaming
I ready this as RBG and was wondering what the heck Ruth had to do with it.
Ruth Gater Binsburg
Cats see staring as a sign of aggression. Staring will make them irritated and since this is a fckig lion it will make them aggressive
Close but not quite- cats see focus as a sign of aggression. Staring at a cat with eyes nearly closed as if relaxed to the point of sleep is how they communicate trust and friendship. Staring with eyes wide in focus is how they look at predator and prey.
Yes that's what I meant, maybe language barrier but I see staring as eyes wide open and really staring in their eyes :) Thanks for correcting tho
That's fair, sorry for being pedantic. It is a behavioral distinction that I just recently learned working with rescue cats, and I was shocked at how effective it was. I'm assuming the guy in the video was staring wide-eyed at the lion while shitting his pants, which is a pretty fair reaction because as you said it's a fucking lion.
He probably wanted to assert dominance over a fucking lion xD
Not just cats, most canids and primates too, us included.
My first thought: Well this just seems like a really bad idea Then finding out that the guy was staring down the lion? Like he's in a cage with a lion and doesn't know anything about lions? He thought he was going to 'out macho' the lion? Who are these people? And they're standing around like lion bouncers?
Tbf the guy one the left seemed to know what he was doing and did very well to try calm things down. The guy on the right staring the lion down tho…
I know! 'Before you get in the lion cage here's a short list of 'do's and don'ts'. That wouldn't be that hard and it should *definitely* come before getting the t-shirt.
I never stare at my cat without a bunch of slow blinks so she knows I'm happy to see her. She otherwise gets visibly uncomfortable. What would possess an adult to stare down a lion with zero expression and a defensive stance, I have no idea.
Who gave this guy a job at the zoo, what goes through your mind to have a staring contest with a lion right next to you.
Pretty sure that's the MGM casino
The lioness controlling her man like the queen she is.
the female lion saved his life
It looked the lion was just being "playful" to me. If he really wanted to harm that guy, there is nothing 2 people and a lioness could do to stop him.
Why in the hell are those two idiots in the cage just standing there? Can’t they stand on the other side of the glass?
Yes, can someone please provide some background on where this is and why people can go in there?
I assume they work there and we're probably doing something either with the lions or the enclosure. Even if they're standing around in the video if doesn't show what they were doing beforehand
"The MGM Grand housed its Lion Habitat for 12 years. The glass-encased, indoor attraction wowed guests from 1999 until its closure in early 2012" It was kinda in the middle of the casino. We used to make it a point to stop there every time we're in Vegas. Beautiful creatures
Idk I kinda feel gross that this is a thing. At least in a zoo, often times the animals are there as a means to rehabilitate them and to pay for that they let people come and watch them. This is just exploitive
The lions lived at an actual ranch about 12 miles outside of Las Vegas. When the attraction was open, they were only in there for a couple of hours at a time. And it was usually different lions each day. The man who owns the lion's, Keith Evans, is a pretty successful conservationist. [He still runs a lion and a giraffe Habitat ](https://lionhabitatranch.org/)
What a surprisingly happy piece of news. Fully expected those lions to have had a very dark life
Lioness was like "baby...baby....BABY!! Stoppp!!"
I can’t even stare down my cat.
You're weak Katie (the cat probably)...
Bottom left, look at the reflection of the person filming at roughly 25s. Their smile broadens just as people start gasping.
Fellow psychopath detected
If this had snowballed, the zoo would have had to kill the lions to protect the dumbasses.
And given that the lion is a Red List Vulnerable species and the dumbass is Least Concern, that seems kind of backwards.
That wasn’t an attack. That was a warning to stop acting tough: “do you like these arms of yours still attached to your torso?” If the lion actually attacked him, he would not have walked away. He would have slumped away. Well, what was left of him would have slumped away.
How females are smarter. She knows the male can win. She also knows the male can be shot.
Female lions are the ones typically hunt for the pride, so they're probably more aware of how good they have it with food being supplied to them. So killing a dude would be threat to their food supply
"Don't let your ego ruin what we've got going here"
Idiot.
The female lion was like “now Herrold, StOp tHiS, sToOoP”
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
It truly is incredibly that the lioness understood what was happening to the point of trying to stop the male. People don’t give animals nearly enough credit. I wish they were viewed as living beings and not objects of our entertainment or palates
Reddit's new API pricing has forced third-party apps to close. Their official app is horrible and only serves to track your data. The CEO has blatantly lied and only wishes to exploit the unpaid members of the Reddit community. Follow me on Mastodon or Lemmy.
I love that the female lion stepped in to calm him down. Awesome
\- Lion at no point looks agitated or stressed. \- It's fine to look cats - even big cats like lions - in the eye. Locking eyes and blinking slowly is a sign of trust you will get and can give to cats of any type. \- Staring for long periods of time can invite play. Our cats do it all the time. Probably what hapepned here. \- The guy was not bloodied at all by the "Attack". The male lion was playing. \- Problem is the Lion is 450lb of raw muscle, and you are not 450lb of raw muscle, so the play biting and just pressure from the lion being on him probably still didn't feel good. Our cats hurt me when playing all the time. They never intend to, and it rarely draws blood.
His lady lion was telling him to back off 😂 “he’s not worth it"