Finally, we see an outdoors video of two wild big cats playing “chicken.”
The video begins with a lion slowly approaching a cheetah, who seems to be teasing the “King of the Jungle.” Lions are known to be some of the fiercest predators on the planet, but that doesn’t stop the cheetah from egging it on. And although lions are bigger and badder, it’s actually the faster female lionesses that do most of the hunting for the pride.
That being said, lions can reach up to 50 miles per hour in short bursts, which is pretty damn fast. However, it doesn’t even hold a candle to the fastest land animal in the world. Cheetahs can bust out top speeds of over 70 miles per hour.
I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to go with here, so I’ll tell you to imagine two things:
-Imagine you are driving down the interstate at a little over the 70 mph speed limit. You could look over in the other lane and see a cheetah impressively keeping up.
-Imagine a cheetah running the 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine. Not even the “Cheetah” nicknamed Tyreek Hill could keep up with his animal counterpart.
Pretty crazy right?
In the clip, the lion slowly gets closer and closer to the cheetah, who remains still with its eyes locked towards the approaching big cat. The lion even starts to run at full speed, but the cheetah calculates the distance between the two and takes off only when it needs to.
The lion gets within 50 yards before the cheetah finally turns around and takes off. Its funny to watch as the lion looks like it is giving all that it can with its sprint, while the cheetah looks like its casually jogging to beat the crosswalk timer.
The cheetah leaves the lion in the dust topping out its speed, and the chasing big cat slows down.
However, once the cheetah puts a safe distance between itself and its pursuer, the spotted big cat stops. The cheetah is actually toying with the lion, who continues to go after the quick wild animal as it literally runs circles around the it.
The videographer even follows along in their vehicle with the two big cats as they continue their boring game of tag. As the cheetah continues to tease the lion, the “King of the Jungle” finally decides to throw in the towel and gives up on the chase.
I’m sure the lion is thinking that the cheetah is a bit of an a**hole for leading it on like this. It’ll have to come up with a “Wile E. Coyote” type plan to seek revenge on the arrogant cheetah.
Watch the wild animal chase here:
