i 4 THE ANIMALS OF NORTHERN AFRICA 



about either alone or in pairs, parties of four, five, or even more are far from 

 uncommon in the interior of South Africa, and troops of ten or twelve are not 

 considered rare. Even in large troops each female has been stated to associate 

 with a particular male, and that the union of a lion and lioness generally lasts 

 for life ; but the statement has recently been disputed. 



Although in Africa the prey of lions comprises antelopes, giraffes, zebras, and 

 buffaloes, one observer has stated that in some districts the latter are the chief 

 objects of pursuit, and on one occasion he saw a whole troop of buffaloes dis- 

 persed by lions at night. On the other hand, the same observer believes that 

 buffaloes do not form the favourite food of the South African lion, but that 

 a lion would prefer a rhinoceros to a buffalo, and a zebra to a rhinoceros, 

 since soft juicy fat affords him a dainty feast, and as he is unable to overpower 

 rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses, no other animals would furnish such a large 

 supply of such food as zebras. These animals keep, however, as much as possible 

 to the open plains, and never approach a thicket from which a lion might be 

 able to attack them, thus giving their enemy opportunities only at the drinking- 

 places. 



On the other hand, buffaloes appear to be continually in the vicinity of 

 the haunts of lions, although they are dangerous objects of attack. As a matter of 

 fact, buffaloes not unfrequently wound and even kill lions, but nevertheless often 

 form their principal food. Lions are, however, by no means restricted to animals 

 killed by themselves ; they are, for instance, partial to the flesh of rhinoceroses, 

 and will gorge themselves from carcases of these animals even when in an 

 advanced stage of decomposition. Again, when the carcases of elephants are 

 left to decay in the rays of the tropical sun till they form a mass of corruption, 

 lions will come and feast on them night after night, till all the flesh is devoui'ed. 

 This happens in districts rich in game, where lions w r ould have little trouble in 

 procuring fresh zebra or antelope meat. Old and infirm lions, no longer able to 

 kill large prey, are perforce content with small animals, and will catch mice and 

 other small rodents, and even graze occasionally, while in the neighbourhood of 

 villages they devote their attention to the goats of the natives, or attack any 

 women and children who may cross their paths at night. 



It is not improbable, were they suffered to live long enough, that some lions, 

 when too weak to hunt game, would become, like tigers under similar conditions, 

 regular man-eaters; but owing to the courage of the natives, which far 

 surpasses that of most of the inhabitants of India, this never happens in the greater 

 part of Africa. After two or three of their fellows have fallen victims to a lion, the 

 inhabitants of the district are called together to form a hunting-party, and soon 

 surround and kill the lion with their spears ; and even if a lion kill merely an ox or 

 a goat in the land of the warlike Matabili, he is generally doomed. In Zululand, 

 Tongaland, and Swaziland a few man-eating lions were, however, stated to be in 

 existence, and there are stories about one lion, apparently in full strength, or, at 

 any rate, able to leap the high fences surrounding the Zulu villages, which killed 

 between thirty and forty people and almost depopulated the country. Another 

 lion had grown notorious for its frequent attacks on the hunters' encampments, 

 although it inhabited a country rich in game. 



