{"id":241958,"date":"2024-07-11T01:07:04","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T01:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/11\/lions-record-breaking-swim-across-channel-captured-by-drone-camera\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:14:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:14:57","slug":"lions-record-breaking-swim-across-channel-captured-by-drone-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/11\/lions-record-breaking-swim-across-channel-captured-by-drone-camera\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions&#8217; record-breaking swim across channel captured by drone camera"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<figure class=\"ArticleImage\">\n<div class=\"Image__Wrapper\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" width=\"1350\" height=\"900\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1288px) 837px, (min-width: 1024px) calc(57.5vw + 55px), (min-width: 415px) calc(100vw - 40px), calc(70vw + 74px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=300 300w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=400 400w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=500 500w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=600 600w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=700 700w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=800 800w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=837 837w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=900 900w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=1003 1003w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=1100 1100w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=1200 1200w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=1300 1300w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=1400 1400w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=1500 1500w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=1600 1600w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=1674 1674w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=1700 1700w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=1800 1800w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=1900 1900w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/10113840\/SEI_212224928.jpg?width=2006 2006w\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-image-context=\"Article\" data-image-id=\"2439066\" data-caption=\"Brothers Jacob and Tibu in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda\" data-credit=\"Alex Braczkowski\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"ArticleImageCaption\">\n<div class=\"ArticleImageCaption__CaptionWrapper\">\n<p class=\"ArticleImageCaption__Title\">Brothers Jacob and Tibu in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleImageCaption__Credit\">Alex Braczkowski<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>A pair of lion brothers have made the longest swim ever recorded for their species \u2013 about 1.5 kilometres across hippo and crocodile-infested waters.<\/p>\n<p>The massive swim \u2013 equivalent to the aquatic leg of an Olympic triathlon \u2013 was the pair\u2019s fourth attempt to cross the Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, and was recorded by a drone-mounted thermal camera at night.<\/p>\n<p>The lions had to abort earlier attempts after encountering large animals, most likely hippos or Nile crocodiles, which are also visible in the footage.<\/p>\n<p>\n    <iframe title=\"3-legged lion&#039;s record-breaking swim across channel\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0n431ncCbYs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n    <\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>Making the effort even more extraordinary, one of the lions, named Jacob, has only three legs.<\/p>\n<p>Jacob has had an extremely challenging life, says <a href=\"https:\/\/experts.griffith.edu.au\/27380-alexander-braczkowski\">Alexander Braczkowski<\/a> at Griffith University in Australia: he has been gored by a buffalo, his family was poisoned for the lion body-part trade, he was caught in a poacher\u2019s snare and he eventually lost his leg after it was stuck in a poacher\u2019s steel trap.<\/p>\n<p>Capturing the swim on film was unexpected because Braczkowski and his colleagues were actually monitoring the pair of lions to determine whether Jacob\u2019s brother, Tibu, was supporting his sibling with the provision of food.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe brotherly bonds of lions go way beyond the limitations of an injury like a missing leg,\u201d says Braczkowski.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"js-content-prompt-opportunity\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The researchers think the brothers probably crossed the channel to reach lionesses they could hear calling from 2 kilometres away. The linear distance of the crossing was 1.1 kilometres, but they estimate the lions swam closer to 1.5 kilometres, accounting for changes in direction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s kind of amazing when you look at individual capability and bravery in different species when it comes to passing on their genes,\u201d says Braczkowski. \u201cA human would never swim across that channel in the middle of the night, but a lion \u2013 even a three-legged one who has had almost everything taken from him \u2013 will just jump in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Braczkowski says Queen Elizabeth National Park\u2019s lions are under immense pressure because 60,000 people also live within its limits, herding cattle, poaching wildlife and sometimes growing crops.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMale lions are spending a lot of their time searching for new females because, in the past five years, the population of lions in the park has fallen by nearly half, from 72 to 39,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Females have been hit harder because they tend to gather in bigger groups, so if people set a poisoned carcass, there is a greater risk of multiple deaths, he adds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ratio in the park is now two males for every female, and it should be two females for every male in a healthy population.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Team member <a href=\"https:\/\/www.resilientconservation.org\/founder-duan-biggs\">Duan Biggs<\/a> at Northern Arizona University says a long-term solution will need to be found in the park that protects both humans and lions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA three-legged lion caught in a poacher\u2019s trap swimming across croc-infested waters to find females is a symbol of a conservation landscape that is struggling,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<section class=\"ArticleTopics\">\n<p class=\"ArticleTopics__Heading\">Topics:<\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2439061-lions-record-breaking-swim-across-channel-captured-by-drone-camera\/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&#038;utm_source=NSNS&#038;utm_medium=RSS&#038;utm_content=home\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Brothers Jacob and Tibu in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda Alex Braczkowski A pair of lion brothers have made the longest swim ever recorded<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":241959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}