Watch the King of the Jungle Get Scared Like a Kitten When a Herd of Zebra Stares Him Down

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There’s not much that frightens the king of the jungle. He is known to wander the wild and doesn’t always stick with his pride. He’s not afraid to get into fights by himself or take on another lion for the chance to steal his territory. 

However, if there is one thing a lion can be fearful of, it is the possibility of a stampede. This brings us back to the famous children’s movie Lion King, where the lion king was caught in a stampede. Even he was not able to survive something as fierce as that. 

Male Lion Vs. Zebra Herd

The YouTube video comes to us from the land of Africa, where we see a showdown between the king of the jungle and a herd of zebras. The Incredible Wild Animals Sightings YouTube page reshared this video to their followers. Their most recent footage is of a lioness attacking a tortoise, a herd of buffalo against a lion, and then a lion pride taking down buffaloes around tourists. 

Zebra Herd Stares Down Lone Male Lion

As the video starts, we see the king of the jungle lounging in the grass. He is likely taking a break from his territorial walks and hunts. He is sheltering from the heat by sitting beside a tall bush. 

Off in the distance, we see a herd of zebras gathered. And every single one of these mammals has their eyes fixated on this lion. They know he is there and aren’t content to feed or leave until he does. This lion knows they are behind him and eventually gets up to go. He knows the chance of a stampede is a genuine threat he doesn’t want to be a part of.

According to Cornell University, “Zebras and other animals that are typically preyed upon oftentimes demonstrate ‘herd behavior’…stampedes are a result of herd behavior and can cause injury and even death to other animals in the group.”

And this lion knew better than to try and cause any panic that may cause a stampede.

How Many Zebras Are In a Herd?

Typically, when we think of a stampede happening, we imagine the death of the predator they are trying to flee from. However, as we can see from the above remark by Cornell University, sometimes a stampede will result in the death of the animals within the herd. 

Zebras (Equus quagga) can live in herds of hundreds of members. As a group, they will stick together. They will graze for food together as herbivores. They will eat grass, leaves, bark, and shrubs.

In addition to eating together, they will stick with one another against the threat of predators. They know predators are much less likely to strike if they have the numbers. And as we can see from the video above, this herd was enough to scare this lion off.