Scared Lioness Retreats When an Angry Baboon Chases Her

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When we think of retreat, we think of loss and failure. If someone is retreating it is because they know they don’t have the strength or the numbers to finish this fight. However, sometimes retreat can be a trojan horse. Let’s see what happens when a lioness fakes retreat with this angry baboon in the video above. 

Baboon Chasing Lioness

This YouTube video shown at the top was recorded only a few weeks ago and has received more than 200,000 likes. The KOWA YouTube page filmed, shared, and then commented on what happened throughout the video. The most recent footage they shared is of spiders, birds, deer, cats, dogs, and alligators. 

Lioness Pride Comes to the Rescue

As the video above starts out we see a massive standoff happening between an angry baboon and a lioness. The lioness begins to show her fear of this baboon and begins to quickly back away, knowing she doesn’t want this fight. The baboon becomes aggressive and starts to chase her. 

Baboons can run up to 30 miles per hour. This charge leads the lioness away with the baboon in full pursuit. However, what this baboon doesn’t know is that this lioness’ pride is waiting for her just beyond the bushes she’s leading this baboon to. Her trojan horse worked, and by the time the baboon started to realize it, then it was too late and the pride attacked.

Are Baboons Aggressive?

Baboons (Papio) are large monkeys that can weigh anywhere from 30-100 pounds. They use their incredible jaws to show all their teeth to terrify their predators. They have predators such as leopards, African wild dogs, and lions. 

However, not only are baboons aggressive toward other predators they can also be aggressive toward their mates. In mating, the “male chacma baboons frequently engage in aggressive, loud call (“wahoo”),” which will essentially send the female running up a tree, and the male will strike at her and the tree. 

Baboons will also show aggression towards infants of their own species. According to the Public Broadcasting System, “highly aggressive alpha males often resort to infanticide — killing baboon babies that are still dependent on their mothers’ milk.”

So, this leaves us to wonder if baboons are also aggressive toward humans. And the answer is sometimes. As with most animals, baboons will leave us alone if we leave them alone.