Lion Brothers' 1.5-Kilometer Swim Captured by Drones

Jacob, a 10-year-old lion with an amputated leg, and his brother Tibu made a record-breaking 1.5-kilometer swim across Uganda's predator-infested Kazinga Channel, driven by the search for mates due to skewed sex ratios in the park. Using high-definition heat detection cameras on drones, researchers led by Dr. Alexander Braczkowski of Griffith University documented the journey, highlighting the extreme risks the lions faced from crocodiles and hippos. Jacob, known as 'Africa's most resilient lion,' has survived numerous life-threatening incidents including poaching attempts and poisoning. The swim underscores the severe human-induced pressures on wildlife populations in the region. The study, published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, shows the lengths to which lions will go to find mates in a human-dominated world.