Re: Carnivore Energetics: Why Are Lions Not As Big As Elephants?

["Richard W. Travsky" <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007, Dann Pigdon wrote:
> The answers to the subject line are easy: 
> 1.) Lions don't prey on adult elphants (and rarely on juveniles, as a general

That might be a notion in need of changing.


http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0011/feature5/assignment1.html
At an African Water Hole
Field Notes From Author Dereck Joubert

We have witnessed a number of lion attacks against elephants, so were 
accustomed to seeing that moment when the spark of life leaves the victims 
eyes. The female elephant we were watching had reached that point. She 
just gave up completely and sank to her knees with eight lions on her. She 
started to roll over when she heard another elephant in the darkness. 
Suddenly the life came back into her eyes. She rose up off the ground and 
started swinging and fighting back. Eventually she got enough strength to 
get back on her feet, throw the lions off, and run away.
...
There were times when we worked ten nights in a row without any sleep, and 
very often we ended up nodding off and missing an attack. Wed wake up and 
find that the lions were already on an elephant. That happened four or 
five times!
...

This is interesting as well:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/mammals/up_close/picpops/images/d1_african_lionlrg.jpg

(lion attacking cape buffalo)

> [...]