Early April 2023 a nature guide at Chitwa Chitwa Lodge in Steiltes Kruger National Park reported an interaction between 2 lions, a snake and a lizard.
On his trail, he witnessed a cobra that was initially chasing a lizard but stopped in front of 2 lions. The cobra fled after seeing the lions, but the lizard stayed in front of the lions. The nature guide claimed that the lizard was challenging the lions in a brave manner, and he believes the lions respected the lizard's bravery and let the lizard scurry off scot-free.
The reporting from the news was not necessarily biased, the reporter took direct quotes from the nature guide, with additional facts about the location and timing of the nature guide's information. However, I do believe the guide was biased, in his explanation of how he 3 animals interacted, his explanation sounded more like a Disney short than reality to me. The lizard my have frozen in the path in front of the lion out of shock. It was just running away from a snake and it encountered 2 lions. Lions eat lizards, so it could have been shocked to encounter 2 large predators while it was running away from a different predator. The lions might not have had an interest in the lizard or snake, I don’t know if their choice not to chase an animal means they respect the animal. What would respect even look like for a lion? I am not sure.
Though without the personification in the nature guide's recount of the story, this new article may not have gotten as much attention. The title “Lizard Manages to Fend Off Lions and Cobra” is definitely more interesting to me than “Snake Chases Lizard into Lion Path, No One Is Harmed”. The first article gave me the impression that somehow a lizard fought multiple lions and a cobra. So, I was a little disappointed to read about what actually happened.
2 comments:
Honestly, same. I mean don't get me wrong. This is quite an interesting news article the fact that a lizard was brave enough to stand in front of two lions and was still able to get off scot-free after having to look face to face with one of the top species on the food chain. But with such a title I would have expected some kind of smackdown as well. Maybe lion and lizard vs snake or something like that.
I would've been thrilled to encounter 2 lions and 2 amazing reptiles on safari! Even though the title might over-hype the content, I think the article does a good job of inspiring interest in wildlife.
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