Super Lions

Marooned on an island, this group of lions should have died out. Instead, in an evolutionary twist, they've learned to swim and become strong enough to tackle their only prey... giant buffalo

Fearless, ferocious and mightier than the world has ever seen, this is the new breed of super-lion.

This is not easy prey; buffalo kill more people in Africa than lions. These enormous male buffalo targeted by the Pantry pride are bad-tempered and aggressive guys. Their slashing horns and razor-sharp hooves can be the death of a lion — it's a battle of titans."

Consequently, the documentary team saw the Pantry pride all but annihilated on the island, the lions either being killed outright or dying as a result of infected wounds.

There were nine members when filming began in November 2003 and there is just one solitary survivor alive now.

The Skimmer pride lives across the river on the mainland, but they swim to the island whenever buffalo are in sight.

Numbering four females, one doddery, old male and four cubs, they are the 'poachers' in this delicately balanced eco-system.

They will navigate deep and treacherous water, sneaking onto the territory dominated by the other lion packs, and picking off individual buffalo.

The strongest grouping is the Tsaro pride, comprising nine females and two males. Among them are two sets of adult twins — identical lionesses which often give birth to cubs at the same time, and always hunt together.

This pride has developed perhaps the most finely honed and intelligent hunting techniques, based on interaction with its victims.

"We've been studying lions for more than 20 years, but at first we could not believe what we were seeing," says Joubert, who made the wildlife film that inspired the Walt Disney classic The Lion King.

"The lions were acting as sheepdog to the buffalo herd. The pride would live alongside the herd, following it as it moved. Their formula was sophisticated and clinical — they corral the buffalo together and then ambush a weaker member."

They follow the herd through the flood waters for up to seven hours at a time and their victim might be a newborn calf or an injured beast.

"These lions stick to the buffalo like glue, always alert," says Joubert. "They watch day and night, ready for the smallest hint of weakness."

It is a strategy that has paid off, with the Tsaro lions proving the most adept hunters on the island, which is surrounded by an intricate web of thick papyrus swamps and deep, crocodile-infested waters.

Ironically, the buffaloes, too, seem to have flourished under the predatory attention of the Duba lions.

"This is how nature works," explains Joubert. "It is a symbiotic relationship: the lions are pruning the weaker buffalo at an average of 20 a month, strengthening the overall herd. We've seen the buffalo population on the island grow by a fifth in two years."

Indeed, the buffaloes have learnt one particular technique to employ when they are under pressure from the Tsaro pride — when they tire, they gather into a tight-knit bundle, and collectively drop to the ground to sleep, their horns facing outwards to present an impenetrable wall.

In response, the lions also sleep until the herd moves on. The buffaloes also periodically conduct dramatic rescue attempts if a member of the herd is isolated by its predators.