Big male lion shows sheer brute strength when dragging giraffe carcass through the bush by himself

The African lion is well known as the biggest, most fearsome and powerful predator on the continent. To see a big male lion displaying his sheer brute strength, right in front of you when dragging a giraffe carcass around all by himself, gives you a whole new perspective of what the words ‘powerful predator’ means.
During a long visit to the Kruger National Park there was one morning when a pride of lions hunted down a large and very old male giraffe. The pride consisted of one big male lion, four lionesses and three cubs. The pride of lions then continued for about three days gorging themselves until on the third evening, the females and the cubs decided they had enough and moved on to a watering hole some distance away. The male lion decided to stay behind with the remains which included the whole neck of the old male giraffe and all his legs and hooves. We arrived the next morning to check up on the male and his remaining meal. He was still alone and we could see that during the first hours of the morning, vultures spotted the carcass from the air as the carcass was still lying in the open. A whole lot of vultures would become troublesome for the male lion all by himself as he would just run around chasing hungry vultures away and wasting unnecessary energy as the day heats up. As more vultures started closing in from a distance, the big male lion decided it was time to move his remaining carcass into the thickets and out of sight from all the nosy scavengers. I started to film the male lion’s solo attempt to drag the carcass, thinking that even with the whole body of the giraffe gone, it will still be too heavy for the lone male. The neck alone of a giraffe can weigh up to six hundred pounds and is about six feet long while the legs are also around six feet long with each leg weighing up to two hundred pounds. I was totally shocked by the sheer brute strength of this big male lion. The male lion grabbed the giraffe carcass by the neck and started dragging it out of the open. I thought he would not get very far but the lion was persistent to protect the remainder of his meal and get it out of sight. The male lion continued with his mind-blowingly powerful effort while every once in a while, he would pause, take a few big breaths, change his grip and continue putting in all his strength to drag his food for almost fifty meters in the end. The male lion then reached some deeper thickets into which he disappeared with his food, out of sight from all of us. I was absolutely amazed by the determination and full-on display of his power when he really needed it.