Lions and hyenas are portrayed as two fierce enemies engaged in a relentless battle over the African landscapes.
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When it comes to the food chain in the wild both lions and hyenas are apex predators living in the same area, compete for the same food and sometimes even scavenge the same remains.
Field studies have found that lions actually steal more kills from spotted hyenas than vice versa. The animosity between the animals is, however, very real: These two species are arch enemies, locked in battle over territory and food.
For a lion, a hyena won’t actually be much of a well-earned meal or a snack craved for, even if the cat was starving at the height of the dry season as a matter of fact, hyena flesh isn’t really that nutritious; so if a lion did kill a hyena, it wouldn’t gain much from eating it, for hyena flesh is indeed unlikely to provide the promise of food.
Hunting lions is not hyenas’ main priority, yet, hyena groups can be dangerous to unprotected cubs and isolated lions. That being said, hyenas would fight only when the odds are in their favor.
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Male lion kills on hyena pups are also frequent. Also, a lion often targets adult hyenas to show its power. In fact, 60% of hyena deaths come from lion attacks.
Why do Lions not eat hyenas even after killing them?
From research, it is documented that the hyenas store some of the meat from its prey in water graves so as to consume later.
Hence this act of the hyenas extreme scavenges makes their meat taste bad as assumed by biologist.
Due to this, lions do not eat its meat in many cases even after killing it.
Also according to most documentaries, Lions mostly kill hyenas to cut down the competition for food. Lions see hyenas and other apex predators as a threat to their territory and life which explains why lions kill them.
