The Predators

While the wildebeest are joined on their migration by a variety of other herbivores, they are not joined by pursuing predators. Instead, the path of the migration leads the migrants through the hunting territories of many of East Africa's fiercest carnivores.

Lion

Photo by Charles J Sharp

Lions are the undisputed masters of the East African menagerie with a powerful hold on the imaginations of cultures worldwide. They are familiar symbols of courage, strength and nobility.

Scientific Name: Panthera leo

Height: 30-50 inches

Weight: 270-400 pounds (female); 325-575 pounds (male)

Habitat: Lions once lived throughout Africa, but today their range is restricted to protected areas of savanna, bush and woodland.

Behavior: The lion's complex social system is unusual among cat species, which are usually solitary. The average pride consists of 15-20 individuals, mostly females and their young, and 1-3 males. Males without prides of their own may be solitary, or may join with several other young males to form a cohort. Lionesses work together to defend hunting territory from other prides, cooperate during the hunt and share cub-rearing duties. Males protect the pride from other male lions and help the lionesses defend the pride's kills from competitors such as hyenas. The pride does not share equally in the kill; males take the lion's share, followed by dominant females, then the remaining females, with cubs grabbing what they can. While life looks easy for male lions, life at the top is nasty, brutish, and short. Males are challenged constantly by nomad males and cohorts. Most male lions rule territory for just a few years. When a usurper defeats a pride's male, his first duty is the elimination of any cubs fathered by his predecessor. In a few weeks the females begin estrus and the new ruler sires cubs of his own. Challengers continue to arrive. Male lions come and go but the pride remains.

Diet: There isn't much lions cannot or will not eat. Lionesses working together can bring down hippos, giraffes, buffaloes and, of course, wildebeest. They aren't above pilferage, either. Lions frequently claim carcasses killed by other carnivores.

Leopard

The smallest of the big cats, the nocturnal leopard is seldom seen and seldom heard. They are savvy hunters and excellent climbers.

Photo by Jan Erkamp

Scientific Name: Panthera pardus

Height: 18-31 inches

Weight: 60-130 pounds (female); 75-200 pounds (male)

Habitat: Leopards live throughout Africa and southern Asia. Their range includes grasslands, woodlands and forests.

Behavior: Leopards are solitary. Both males and females mark and defend hunting territories with urine and claw marks. Male territories are larger than female territories and a single male's territory may overlap the territories of several females. Females first breed at two years, and will produce a litter every two years thereafter. Litters of two to four cubs are common, but only one or two survive to adulthood. Offspring will remain with the mother for as long as two years. Males will seek territory of their own. Females will sometimes share territory with their mothers.

Diet: Leopards are opportunistic, stealthy hunters and will eat all manner of small to mid-sized prey, including gazelles, monkeys, rodents, reptiles, dogs (wild and domestic), servals, hyraxes, young wildebeest, and foal zebras. They will carry the kill to a secluded spot or up into the trees to keep it away from hyenas and lions.

Cheetah

The cheetah is the world's fastest land animal, capable of sprints up to 70 miles per hour. With its small head, sleek neck, powerful chest, and long, lithe spine, the cheetah is clearly built for the chase.

Scientific Name: Acinonyx jubatus

Height: up to 35 inches

Length: 45-53 inches (tail up to 33 inches)

Weight: 88-140 pounds

Habitat: Grassland, savanna, woodlands bordering open grasslands.

Behavior: Cheetahs were once thought to be solitary like leopards, but recent research has shown some cooperation among individuals. Females remain aloof, while males form up into small groups of two or three or four individuals to mark and defend hunting territory. This territory often overlaps the territory of several females. Life is tough for East African wildlife; life is especially tough for the cheetah. Specialization as a sprinter has left the slender cat poorly equipped to defend itself from its more powerful neighbors. Leopards, hyenas and dogs will kill cheetah cubs if they come across them, while lions will aggressively seek out and kill cheetah cubs sensed in their territory. Healthy adults are fast enough to escape such attacks, but can do little for their offspring. Wounded or aging adults meet the same fate as the cubs.

Diet: The speedy cheetah was built to catch Grant's and Thomson's gazelles and impalas, which often congregate with the wildebeest during the migration. Hare and rodents are sometimes taken, and on rare occasions, a cheetah may try for a wildebeest calf or a zebra foal. On the hunt, a cheetah will stalk its prey until it is within 30 to 50 yards before making its sprint. The chase is over quickly; cheetahs will not continue the pursuit if it lasts more than a minute or so. If successful - and only about half of cheetah hunts are successful - the cheetah eats quickly and quietly. A lone cheetah cannot defend its kill from hyenas, lions, wild dogs, nor even aggressive vultures.

Spotted Hyena

The hyena, despite its hideous appearance and reputation for cowardice and avarice, might be the most successful large carnivore in Africa.

Scientific Name: Crocuta crocuta

Height: 26-36 inches

Weight: 100-140 pounds (female); 90-120 pounds (male)

Habitat: The fossil record indicates that the hyena's range once extended across Eurasia. Today their range is limited to subsaharan Africa. Due to predation on domestic livestock (and, from time-to-time, people), hyenas are rarely found outside protected reserves and conservation areas. They are very adaptable and live in grasslands, woodlands, forests and mountains.

Behavior: Hyenas are highly social, forming into clans with as few as five or as many as 90 members, led by a dominant female. Clans mark and defend territory, which includes a den for the protection of young hyenas and provides a secure place for social interaction. Hyenas do not excavate their dens themselves; they appropriate them from warthogs or other burrowers. Where the hyena population is dense, clans aggressively defend territory against other hyena clans. Where the population is thin, clan territories may overlap, or clans may freely cross one another's territory in pursuit of game.

Diet: Hyenas were once thought to be almost exclusively scavengers, but it turns out they are capable hunters, too. Whether hunting singly or in groups, hyenas will run down their prey, inflicting wounds along the way, until the target is too exhausted to continue. Hunters will announce the kill with grunts and laughter, drawing clan members from as far away as three miles to the meal. Hyena jaws and teeth can exert enormous force - much more than leopard jaws and nearly as much as black bear jaws - and their digestive systems are highly acidic and efficient, which allows them to consume their prey bones and all. Lions may leave up to 40 percent of their kills behind; hyenas leave nearly nothing.

Nile Crocodile

Nile crocodiles play the villains in the migration's most dramatic scenes as wildebeest, gazelles, and zebras attempt to cross rivers teeming with crocs lying in wait.

Scientific Name: Crocodylus niloticus

Length: 10-12 feet (some long-lived males reach 20 feet).

Weight: 1100 pounds (to as much as 2200 pounds)

Habitat: Freshwater lakes, streams, and rivers.

Behavior: The Nile Crocodile is an ectotherm - cold blooded - which means its body does not regulate heat internally. Like other reptiles, a crocodile's body temperature is determined by the external, ambient temperature. In the cool mornings they'll congregate on the riverbank, soaking up the sun to warm themselves. In the heat of midday, they'll laze in a shady corner of the river, keeping themselves cool. The croc's cold blood has other implications. Because its body does not require much energy to regulate temperature, it does not require much food - about a tenth of that needed by a comparably sized warm blooded creature. Adult crocodiles are apex predators - no animal preys upon the big crocodiles. Big cats occasionally prey on younger, smaller crocodiles. Storks, mongooses, hyenas, big cats all prey upon crocodile hatchlings and eggs.

Diet: Adult crocodiles can - and usually do - eat anything unfortunate enough to fall within their jaws. Fish make up most of the big reptile's diet, but they'll consume wildebeest, zebra, gazelles, warthogs, goats, sheep, cattle... During the wildebeest migration, crocodiles congregate in rivers and lakes (such as the famous crossing points along the Grumeti and Mara rivers) and wait to grab wildebeest or zebra or gazelles approaching the water for a drink or contemplating the crossing. The herbivores seem unaware of the danger lurking in the water and respond only after a crocodile has made its attack. By then it is too late, and after just a few moments of desperate splashing, the crocodile drags its prey beneath the surface, where it soon drowns.