Three-legged lion makes record swim across ‘predator-infested’ Uganda river. Watch
Jacob, a 10-year-old lion living in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park, has been through a lot.
Now walking on just three legs, Jacob has been gored by a buffalo, poisoned by humans, caught in a poacher snare and escaped then caught in a poacher’s steel trap, leading to the amputation of his back left leg and his reputation as a “local icon,” researcher Alexander Braczkowski said in a July 10 news release from Griffith University.
“Jacob has had the most incredible journey and really is a cat with nine lives,” Braczkowski said. “I’d bet all my belongings that we are looking at Africa’s most resilient lion.”
Somehow, he continues to not only survive but push past what researchers thought was physically possible — and now he has set a new record.
As part of a long-term study of African lions, researchers from Griffith’s Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security, Northern Arizona University and the Uganda Wildlife Authority followed Jacob, his brother Tibu and the lion population in Uganda’s national parks, according to the release.
During the study, researchers watched as Jacob and Tibu attempted to cross the Kazinga Channel, a wide, “predator-infested” river that had never been known to be crossed by lions before, Griffith University said.
The river is about two-thirds of a mile across, researchers said, far longer than any other lion has been recorded swimming before. Previous swims reached a few hundred feet, according to the release, and some long swims result in death by crocodile or hippopotamus attack.
In videos shared by Griffith University, Jacob and Tibu are seen making a first attempt across the channel. Partway across, something changes their minds and they start to swim back to shore. Later, the lions make a second attempt.
It’s a success.
“The fact that he and his brother Tibu have managed to survive as long as they have in a national park that has experienced significant human pressures and high poaching rates is a feat in itself — our science has shown this population has nearly halved in just 5 years,” Braczkowski said. “His swim, across a channel filled with high densities of hippos and crocodiles, is a record-breaker and is a truly amazing show of resilience in the face of such risk.”
After so many hardships and the loss of a leg, what could possibly motivate the lion brothers to take the dangerous plunge?
“It’s likely the brothers were looking for females,” Braczkowski said. “Competition for lionesses in the park is fierce and they lost a fight for female affection in the hours leading up to the swim, so it’s likely the duo mounted the risky journey to get to the females on the other side of the channel.”
During the course of the study, researchers observed male lions crossing the channel six times, according to results published July 10 in the journal Ecology and Evolution.
However, only Jacob and Tibu’s journey was caught on tape.
Aside from the prospect of new mates, researchers believe the lions may have also chosen the watery path to avoid human interaction.
“There is a small connecting bridge to the other side but the presence of people was probably a deterrent for them,” Braczkowski said.
The research reveals African lions have the physical capability to swim greater distances, according to the study. Now, rivers and bodies of water can be considered when creating wildlife corridors, or sections of protected land that connect wildlife areas, researchers said.
The Queen Elizabeth National Park is in southwestern Uganda, along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This story was originally published July 11, 2024 at 3:08 PM with the headline "Three-legged lion makes record swim across ‘predator-infested’ Uganda river. Watch."
