Possible predation of a black rhinoceros calf by a lion

Young black rhino killed by lion. While on a wilderness trail in Umfolozi Game Reserve, I was awakened at 02h00 (14 June 1987) by the roaring of a lion Panthera leo, this being followed by the persistent high-pitched screaming of an animal in distress. While following the lion's spoor later that morning I disturbed an adult male lion from a carcass, which proved to be a freshly killed black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis (Figure 1). There were signs of a struggle, the rhino had been disemboweled and there were well-defined claw and tooth marks on the neck. The horn length of 18-20 cm indicated that it was probably almost two years old, although the sex could not be determined with certainty. This circumstantial evidence strongly suggested that the lion had killed the rhino, a view supported by the experienced game guard Gqugasa Ntombela who accompanied me. There was no sign of the presence of an adult rhino, and indeed a young black rhino is often independent of its mother at this age.