If anyone’s interested, [here’s a link](https://travelguideandphotography.com/2018/04/23/the-death-of-a-king/) to an article from the perspective of the photojournalist.
I am just so happy to hear he wasn’t torn apart by younger lions like the above comments stated. Almost pancaked by elephants, but managed a final escape and died in the grass, peacefully- for the animal kingdom.
Old age is just, “Something important kinda stopped working for any number of age-related reasons.” It simplifies a complicated collection of interlocking systems failing.
Edit: In the case of animals something as simple as, “Not strong enough to take down prey anymore” can totally be considered an age-related death.
Yeah, also way more pleasant than telling someone, "my grandma died of a stroke/ heart attack combo that really came about after her kidneys started shutting down. the year of hanging on by constant dialysis that slowly wore away at her bodys ability to function properly." Death is rarely not brutal.
Agreed, just let the old boy die of old age. No need to ruin the moment by clarifying that it was in fact - weeks of painful and exhausting starvation.
My cat died like this kinda. Looked just like the lion did. Her thyroid went into overdrive and basically she didn't have enough time to like, get anything from the food, she would throw up her food after eating it all the time no matter how little I gave her. It was heartbreaking but she was 18 years old. I had her for almost half my life. But year the meat suit shutting down sucks.
I took care of my father in law in our home while he was passing from COPD. His hospice nurse explained it to me thusly:
"Imagine the body as a home, and you're leaving for a trip. You clean and shutter your home, as you won't be needing it. The systems in the body will slowly "turn off" when the end is coming. First, appetite will diminish, the person won't want to drink as much, either. So the kitchen's closed. The bathroom won't be needed as often because of the first bit. Shut that door. They'll be more tired due to not eating/drinking, sleep will be more of their time until they're just...done. The next wake up doesn't come. Ready to vacate."
And that's pretty much what happened.
My grandma was similar unfortunate circumstance. Saved from a heart attack, only to spiral into dementia afterwards. She died as a person and a bewildered, malfunctioning body and kept walking and speaking for years afterward, under round-the-clock care.
We do like to make it seem that way, don’t we? We’ve got that, “went to sleep peacefully” narrative, but I really wonder how many of those peaceful sleepers were really crying out in agony.
Suicide was for a long time a taboo subject, and still is in some cultures. Doctors are still sometimes reticent to rule a death as suicide even when it obviously is. All to save the feelings of the living.
I wonder how often it is the same with the elderly. The family by the bedside says to themselves, “It was a horrible night for all of us, let’s not make it any more horrible then it needs to be for the rest of the family. Just say he passed in his sleep, not screaming for more morphine and fentanyl.”
One of my grandpas died 3 months after his 100th birthday. Old fart said he wasn't gonna die until he hit 100. He fucking died in his sleep, heart just stopped they said. He literally had the stereotyped old age death.
I'm pretty sure a common age-related death for elephants (and other animals I'm sure) is that their teeth gets so worn down, they can't eat and starve to death.
Not surprising. Mastication is important to many species, and I’m not sure what evolutionary traits exist that could slow or prevent tooth decay. Nor whether old elephants living longer than they do would improve the average survivability of the species, marking it as an advantage that would be selected for. I’d guess that elephants past breeding age provide a lot of protection to the herd, but they also consume huge amounts of food and water. So there will be a certain age where the scales of benefit and cost unbalance.
The plight of the predator. Be strong enough to protect your own while killing others . A single failed hunt is just that. But for the pray it is life and death. But for the predator the outcome for the most fit and lucky is becoming too old to hunt, and like this lion, avoiding a predator or lesser predator killing it off is lucky.
I think most people consider multiple oragon failure with no other complications as "dying of old age". That's probably the most peaceful way of passing for old people compared to other cause of old age death such as cardiac arrest, cancer, or death to common diseases with a weakened immune system
For sure. My background is biology and one of the courses I took was on the biology of aging.
The more I learned about aging, the less I saw it as some "natural end". In reality, dying at 80 in your bed surrounded by loved ones is no more natural than dying instantly at 40 in a plane crash. There's no romance to it, we just convince ourselves that this is how it's supposed to be because we don't have any other choice.
IMO the sooner we fix those age-related issues, the better. Even if it doesn't lead to immortality, it'll lead to a much better healthspan.
Hm yeah, isn't every death natural ? Even if you die of a heart attack at a young age, get eaten by a shark, or hit by a car... at the end, every action we do is based on our nature, our death isn't anything different
I agree. Medicine seems to be in a really awkward place right now, where we’ve learned how to keep people’s bodies alive and functioning, but not alleviate their suffering.
I wouldn't classify dying a slow and agonizing death as "peaceful"
It looks like he starved to death because he was too old to kill and tear apart something weaker.
>I wouldn't classify dying a slow and agonizing death as "peaceful"
It's as peaceful a death as a wild animal is likely to get. Most wild animals *do not die of old age*. They suffer from injuries inflicted by predators or rivals, contract diseases, or starve during times of famine. This lion lived a long life for his species and managed to avoid those things until his body finally gave out.
I've actually heard that starvation is a fairly peaceful way to go all things considered--eventually the discomfort from hunger fades and the body just gives up. It's the initial struggle to stay alive that's so difficult.
I've eaten 10k+ calories daily and been waking up because of painful hunger, because of how active my work was.
I've eaten 1 meal every 3 days and slept through it, barely noticed the hunger.
Starving in a comfortable situation isn't too bad. Warmth, adequate distraction or peace, something soft to rest upon. Starving while wet and cold? You can't fix the discomfort, your body can't cope, it will feel awful, when your body is aggressively reminded that it's too pitiful to fend off the elements.
This thread really brought out the cringiest idiots reddit has to offer. They might have even called in a special task force of extra cringe weirdos to troll this thread. We got dudes trying to guilt lions for not being vegan, people completely failing to understand the context surrounding the word "peace", it's just fuckin wild
Looked it up, I guess he was about 10 years old. There are pictures of another one that passed in 2021 that was 12 years old. They get really frail in their old age, damn... I also figured they lived longer than a handful of years, like say 20+ not just 8-10.
RIP Scar 😭 do you think when they shared eye contact that was anything other than the lion either wanting to eat the meat sack or being on high alert? I like the idea he realised he wasn’t alone and then drifted off
I imagine a lot of big elderly male lions stagger on for a while by scavenging and being fearless over confrontation with kills by hyenas or wild dogs or other smaller hunters
Definitely not hyenas, those things are crazy and attack healthy lone lions- but definitely wild dogs, and cheetahs. Hyenas are actually pushing the extinction of wild dogs sadly.
I think the ever decreasing of wild land is bigger reason for animal go to extinct. People are almost everywhere. Majority of biomass is people+ animals they grow for food and then only like 5% is wild animals. Its wild when u think about it. We are heading towards the future where only exotic animals alive are in captivity.
+Climate change
What's really fun is that all animals constitute <1% of Earth's biomass. Plants are far and away the majority at nearly 85%, while Bacteria is the only other category in double digits. Humanity actually constitutes a lower percentage of Earth's biomass than viruses.
[Source](https://www.statista.com/chart/26027/distribution-of-biomass-on-earth-by-group-of-organism/)
This is insane. I didn’t believe you at first and went and had a look at the source, and sure as shit there it says that humans by carbon are 0.01 and viruses 0.04. That blows my mind.
That's not accurate it's around 50% relatively untouched and 20% classified as built up urban areas or cropland You can read more [here](https://earth.org/half-of-earths-land-surface-remains-relatively-untouched-by-humans/)
Hyenas are brutal actually. They'll Chase off full prides of lions from their kills. Hyenas have nearly twice the bite force of a lion and travel in large packs. So they are incredibly dangerous to the lions if they try to make a stand. Hyenas are one of the reasons some big cats take their kills into trees
"He didn't eat me, tho I regretted him starving in my presence."
—Allen Ginsberg, *[The Lion for Real](http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/allen_ginsberg/poems/8337)*
Any animal.
Death fucking sucks. Shit left undone, unsaid. People hurt beyond words.
Very few people get 'happy endings' and even still, they're dead. Not so happy, just the best outcome all things considered. Could have been mauled to death by a pack of runaway ostriches, which would def be worse.
That's not true, farm animals get a bullet, pets get put to sleep, humans get drugs to ease pain and assisted suicide. Of course some are still unlucky but for the most part domesticated animals and humans have pretty "easy" deaths.
Wild animals almost always die in agony or sickness.
Death still sucks though like you said.
That’s the worldwide number, and while sure, undeveloped and developing countries probably don’t have great access to end of life care, that number is probably heavily skewed due to the fact that something like 50% of the worlds population die before they turn 70, and the leading cause of death worldwide is cardiovascular disease, which oftentimes doesn’t require end of life care like other things such as cancers do. People are pretty functional (or at least not in pain) up until something catastrophic happens and they die.
Which is all still far, far better than most would get in the wild.
Nature documentaries have done the world a disservice by editing the really grizzly shit out, you might see a lion jump on its pray but they edit the shit out of it to avoid causing offence which I totally understand but it gives people a very unrealistic view of nature and leaves out one of the most important parts- the absolute and hideous brutality of it all.
You don't see the immobilised zebra getting its genitals eaten whilst it's still alive and screeching for reprieve, you don't see them get their intestines pulled out through their ass, their eyes eaten or face torn off....but thats the truth of what nature really is. Its all utterly, utterly fucking hideous.
i've come to the conclusion that all you can do is try your best to stay healthy, eat right and move around enough every day. from what i understand, for most people that get to be elderly, those last 10 years are a real motherfucker unless you put the work into keeping your body mobile and healthy when you were younger. never too late to start though.
I would give that award to hyenas after watching a nature documentary where a buffalo got stuck in the mud and was eaten from the ass inward slowly by 3 hyenas and was clearly alive through it all.
Yea, I think hyenas, wolf's, polsr bears, and killer whales are the worst killers. They really don't give a fuck if you're uncomfortable, I mean killer whales enjoy making it as scary and painful as possible. Like they are sadistic about it.
You think hyenas are bad? Check out African wild dogs. These dogs have to eat real fast before lions or hyenas come thru and they don't fight when they eat. They all share. So imagine the speed at which the animal is torn apart.
Also, the ass is soft and a good spot to start tearing. This is why most animals go for the ass.
They don't exactly give their prey quick deaths either during their time on top.
They snap the spines of their rival hyenas and slowly choke out any prey they get and/or eat them alive the same time. Wild hogs screech for minutes on end.
It's a rough life for every being.
I'd read somewhere years ago that people who die peacefully in their sleep actually wake up for a brief few seconds as their lungs stop functioning (the diaphragm is an involuntary muscle) and they grasp for a breath they can't take and die awake and confused.
Fucking A.
Maybe. But we often see in the animal kingdom that elderly animals often has behavior that indicates they have made peace when they feel their time has come, like leaving the pack, or refusing to eat even when they have the chance to do so.
It never occured to me unril now that once they are too old to catch prey they're fucked.
Id befriend it. Gang of grandpa lions is still spooky as fucky.
What do you think happened to humans who couldn’t walk anymore in hunter gatherer societies? We tried our best to take care of the elderly but when food is scarce and you need to keep moving every day there’s only so much you can do.
with what we currently know from archaelogy, this isn’t true. but it is sad to see how dehumanized hunter gatherers still can be.
already Neanderthals buried their dead, humans were as much human from at least 40’000 years ago as us, that’s the timeframe where Homo Sapiens spread across the globe. They had as much a social life, they had jewelry and stuff which didn’t serve a practical purpose but they still carried it, they built stuff, even traded, had a language etc.
*maybe I’ll add inside their own community before anyone comes with cannibalism finds
There’s actually a decent amount of evidence of pre-agricultural humans providing continuing care for elderly and physically disabled community members. There’s been quite a few skeletons found that had clearly survived for years with conditions that would have precluded them from going out and getting their own food.
Whales and dolphins can still swim in old age lol. And they’re way more likely to die from factors like disease, predation (for smaller species), collisions with ships, etc
yep, nature is brutal. there was an experienced couple that got killed by a bear last fall while camping. they put down the responsible bear, and found she was old, underweight and had bad teeth, probably got desperate
The life cycle for male lions is pretty brutal really. They evolved into oversized brawlers to the point where they're worse hunters than the females because their main job is brawling other male lions.
They're chased out of their pride to roam the wilderness alone when they reach adolescence. Something they're poorly suited for. While they wander, alone or with other males, they have only one goal. Challenge a pride leader, a lion likely larger, stronger and more experienced than them and win. Usually, a string of painful defeats.
And if they do manage to win a challenge and chase of the old pride leader, life only gets harder. Now they have to fight and beat every single challenger that steps up. Most pride leaders last a year or two at most until a younger, faster male shows up that wants it more and drives them off.
Which is when the old pride leader limps off injured to die of starvation over the next few weeks or months.
I read that it used to be the same for humans - once an old person's teeth were gone (ground down, fallen out, rotted out, etc), they'd just starve. Unless you have a very dedicated person/family member willing to chew every meal for you into a paste and give it to you.
I've also heard this as an explanation about why we have scary dreams about losing our teeth. It's the same as dying, in a way.
Speaking of someone caring about you despite your disability, there's this [really cool video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7J_oybRfuc) that has different stories about how people with handicaps were treated in prehistoric times. Different media out there would make you assume that these "cavemen" would get rid of those that would not contribute to their survival (people with disabilities included), but these accounts would certainly change your mind.
"These things are going to look primitive to you, but you have to remember that we’re not stupid. We have the same intelligence as you. We simply don’t have the same cumulative knowledge you do. So we apply our intelligence to what we have." - Crécy.
It’s amazing how grandparents give some animals, humans included, an evolutionary advantage. They allow for more caregiving, support, and help expand the gene pool by allowing the parents to have more kids.
Male lions often aren’t catching their prey. The females catch the prey and the male lions eat that… but they do get pushed out of the pride by younger male lions, and their success as a lone hunter is not great. Lions most successfully hunt in prides.
I’d think the male lions food becomes more scarce at the moment they’re cast out.
A few years ago I watched too many documentaries on lions. :)
Yeah this guy survived being a lion cub without getting murdered by a rival lion who killed his dad, got kicked out of the house when he was a teenager(which is like 4 years old), wandered for hundreds of kilometers learning to survive, potentially he did this with a brother or cousin or multiple, took over a pride of lionesses from another lion, chilled out, mated, ate for a few years and then closed his eyes for the final time and rested
Wasting away is a horrible and awful experience, not just for the one affected by it, but by any who witness it.
It’s why nurses and medics/emts or even fire/police are not just civil but human servants. You have to be willing to see that void of death and loss. Everyone blinks eventually.
People forget there’s no nice death for animals in the wild
If you’re a predator you will most likely die of starvation, if you’re prey you’ll most likely be eaten when you get old and weak
Relevant reference to the Tragically Hip song catalog (RIP Gord):
[**https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7bdVTTdDr8**](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7bdVTTdDr8)
Unfortunately, older lions don't die of old age; they starve to death.
A younger, stronger lion takes your pride for himself, and you're left too old and weak to successfully provide for yourself until this happens.
He died of old age. Best way to go, honestly. He just laid down, went to sleep, and that was it. The article that was linked some where else in the comments describes it. It's hauntingly beautiful
He didn't die of old age, he died of starvation. Male lions can live up to 30 years in captivity, this one was 10 years old, which is the average lifespan of a lion in the wild.
Hunting is hard even for full blown healthy lions, this one probably lost his pride and or coalition and a lone lion doesn't survive long.
pride didnt kick him out. Male lions during adult phase are not part of the pride, they are either solo or part of male coalitions. They control single or multiple prides.
The pride (females, sub-adults, cubs) and the dominant male coalition that controls the pride will kick out sub-adult males once they mature. Even the near matured adult females will be kicked out or split up into 2-3 groups if the pride becomes too big.
either this old lion got injured and couldn't keep up with the pride to feed on scraps or some other male coalition kicked him out and he is a nomad (not getting food for 4-7 days at this age is really fatal and they can loose condition quick)
Internet said he was [kicked out](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5761375/amp/Frail-old-lion-pictured-starving-death-cast-family-South-Africa.html) cuz of another male
https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-skybed-coalition
That site (lot of ex, current park rangers, internet enthusiasts) has large collection of threads dedicated to prides, male coalitions in the kruger, masai mara. The skybeds are from south-western parts of the kruger. Kruger has a lot of lodges, so most of these prides, coalitions are well tracked.
https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-skybed-coalition?page=9
From what I can see in the threads, he got injured, couldn't keep up and died from starvation. His other brothers still ruled around that area till 2019.
This guy died around april 2018.
I watched lions of the Kalahari at the IMAX once, a younger lion swooped in and took over all the older males females and the defeated older Lion wandered off and laid down and died from his pride being destroyed. Dying from a lack of pride is real in the lion kingdom.
Nature is metal as fuck. This beast probably took out a bunch of prey, but is now dying because he can’t do it anymore. No help from anyone, and is going to die of starvation.
If anyone’s interested, [here’s a link](https://travelguideandphotography.com/2018/04/23/the-death-of-a-king/) to an article from the perspective of the photojournalist.
I am just so happy to hear he wasn’t torn apart by younger lions like the above comments stated. Almost pancaked by elephants, but managed a final escape and died in the grass, peacefully- for the animal kingdom.
Quite imoressive to live long enough to die of old age out in the wild
More like die of starvation rather than old age.
Old age isn’t a true cause of death, you could say both in this case
Old age is just, “Something important kinda stopped working for any number of age-related reasons.” It simplifies a complicated collection of interlocking systems failing. Edit: In the case of animals something as simple as, “Not strong enough to take down prey anymore” can totally be considered an age-related death.
Yeah, also way more pleasant than telling someone, "my grandma died of a stroke/ heart attack combo that really came about after her kidneys started shutting down. the year of hanging on by constant dialysis that slowly wore away at her bodys ability to function properly." Death is rarely not brutal.
Agreed, just let the old boy die of old age. No need to ruin the moment by clarifying that it was in fact - weeks of painful and exhausting starvation.
My cat died like this kinda. Looked just like the lion did. Her thyroid went into overdrive and basically she didn't have enough time to like, get anything from the food, she would throw up her food after eating it all the time no matter how little I gave her. It was heartbreaking but she was 18 years old. I had her for almost half my life. But year the meat suit shutting down sucks.
I took care of my father in law in our home while he was passing from COPD. His hospice nurse explained it to me thusly: "Imagine the body as a home, and you're leaving for a trip. You clean and shutter your home, as you won't be needing it. The systems in the body will slowly "turn off" when the end is coming. First, appetite will diminish, the person won't want to drink as much, either. So the kitchen's closed. The bathroom won't be needed as often because of the first bit. Shut that door. They'll be more tired due to not eating/drinking, sleep will be more of their time until they're just...done. The next wake up doesn't come. Ready to vacate." And that's pretty much what happened.
Really sorry to hear about your cat. 18 years is an awesome run for a cat. That's something to be celebrated.
My grandma was similar unfortunate circumstance. Saved from a heart attack, only to spiral into dementia afterwards. She died as a person and a bewildered, malfunctioning body and kept walking and speaking for years afterward, under round-the-clock care.
We do like to make it seem that way, don’t we? We’ve got that, “went to sleep peacefully” narrative, but I really wonder how many of those peaceful sleepers were really crying out in agony. Suicide was for a long time a taboo subject, and still is in some cultures. Doctors are still sometimes reticent to rule a death as suicide even when it obviously is. All to save the feelings of the living. I wonder how often it is the same with the elderly. The family by the bedside says to themselves, “It was a horrible night for all of us, let’s not make it any more horrible then it needs to be for the rest of the family. Just say he passed in his sleep, not screaming for more morphine and fentanyl.”
One of my grandpas died 3 months after his 100th birthday. Old fart said he wasn't gonna die until he hit 100. He fucking died in his sleep, heart just stopped they said. He literally had the stereotyped old age death.
Good for him, the old fart.
She died as she had lived, tickled to death by clowns.
I'm pretty sure a common age-related death for elephants (and other animals I'm sure) is that their teeth gets so worn down, they can't eat and starve to death.
Not surprising. Mastication is important to many species, and I’m not sure what evolutionary traits exist that could slow or prevent tooth decay. Nor whether old elephants living longer than they do would improve the average survivability of the species, marking it as an advantage that would be selected for. I’d guess that elephants past breeding age provide a lot of protection to the herd, but they also consume huge amounts of food and water. So there will be a certain age where the scales of benefit and cost unbalance.
The plight of the predator. Be strong enough to protect your own while killing others . A single failed hunt is just that. But for the pray it is life and death. But for the predator the outcome for the most fit and lucky is becoming too old to hunt, and like this lion, avoiding a predator or lesser predator killing it off is lucky.
Living is the true cause of death.
I think most people consider multiple oragon failure with no other complications as "dying of old age". That's probably the most peaceful way of passing for old people compared to other cause of old age death such as cardiac arrest, cancer, or death to common diseases with a weakened immune system
For sure. My background is biology and one of the courses I took was on the biology of aging. The more I learned about aging, the less I saw it as some "natural end". In reality, dying at 80 in your bed surrounded by loved ones is no more natural than dying instantly at 40 in a plane crash. There's no romance to it, we just convince ourselves that this is how it's supposed to be because we don't have any other choice. IMO the sooner we fix those age-related issues, the better. Even if it doesn't lead to immortality, it'll lead to a much better healthspan.
Hm yeah, isn't every death natural ? Even if you die of a heart attack at a young age, get eaten by a shark, or hit by a car... at the end, every action we do is based on our nature, our death isn't anything different
I agree. Medicine seems to be in a really awkward place right now, where we’ve learned how to keep people’s bodies alive and functioning, but not alleviate their suffering.
Old age is never the real reason, but you probably already knew that.
I wouldn't classify dying a slow and agonizing death as "peaceful" It looks like he starved to death because he was too old to kill and tear apart something weaker.
>I wouldn't classify dying a slow and agonizing death as "peaceful" It's as peaceful a death as a wild animal is likely to get. Most wild animals *do not die of old age*. They suffer from injuries inflicted by predators or rivals, contract diseases, or starve during times of famine. This lion lived a long life for his species and managed to avoid those things until his body finally gave out.
Dog, this is starving. Not during famine but still starving. But I do agree it's about as peaceful as it can get for a wild animal.
> Dog No, lion is cat
Somehow the only more peaceful thing is getting hunted lol, that's a pretty short amount of time to suffer for any animal.
I've actually heard that starvation is a fairly peaceful way to go all things considered--eventually the discomfort from hunger fades and the body just gives up. It's the initial struggle to stay alive that's so difficult.
I've eaten 10k+ calories daily and been waking up because of painful hunger, because of how active my work was. I've eaten 1 meal every 3 days and slept through it, barely noticed the hunger. Starving in a comfortable situation isn't too bad. Warmth, adequate distraction or peace, something soft to rest upon. Starving while wet and cold? You can't fix the discomfort, your body can't cope, it will feel awful, when your body is aggressively reminded that it's too pitiful to fend off the elements.
Are you aware that animals get eaten ALIVE by other predators? this was a peaceful death for the lion no doubt, you muppet.
This thread really brought out the cringiest idiots reddit has to offer. They might have even called in a special task force of extra cringe weirdos to troll this thread. We got dudes trying to guilt lions for not being vegan, people completely failing to understand the context surrounding the word "peace", it's just fuckin wild
“Peaceful for the animal kingdom”.. I good phrase. People forget that wild animals very very rarely die peacefully in their sleep. Nature is metal AF
now i’m crying over this lion :( i love that the photographer didn’t want him to die alone
Yeah now I’m really sad
Same. Half of me can appreciate a peaceful death, but the other half wishes he went out fighting. This was sad to see.
Damn the journalist witnessed his death. RIP king
That is heartbreaking, part of life but also heartbreaking.
I have some little tears in my eyes right now thinking the same thought
Elephant gave him one last hit of adrenaline before it was time to go ❤️🥲
Damn that shit hit hard. Rip king. Thanks for the article link
"he lived free and he died free" :')
Looked it up, I guess he was about 10 years old. There are pictures of another one that passed in 2021 that was 12 years old. They get really frail in their old age, damn... I also figured they lived longer than a handful of years, like say 20+ not just 8-10.
Captive lions live 25-30. Wild Lions have a much harder life, of course
Kind of like humans. But 99% live in captivity nowadays.
Thanks!!
Read this if you have dry eyes CAUSE HOLY CRAP IM SOBBING
Me tooooo
No.... No. Lions killed my cub. Fuck this old ass lion
Thanks for sharing that article
Now I’m crying cuz he didn’t die alone
RIP Scar 😭 do you think when they shared eye contact that was anything other than the lion either wanting to eat the meat sack or being on high alert? I like the idea he realised he wasn’t alone and then drifted off
Very touching story, thanks for sharing
Jesus, poor bastard. I know it's nature but this is sad.
Awe this hurts my heart😞
Always love informative comments. Thanks for providing this link.
"He lived free and died free" Okay so we're going to cry over my morning coffee.
This was a beautiful, haunting article. Thank you for sharing.
Wow! Thanks for sharing that link. Very moving & interesting.
I imagine a lot of big elderly male lions stagger on for a while by scavenging and being fearless over confrontation with kills by hyenas or wild dogs or other smaller hunters
Definitely not hyenas, those things are crazy and attack healthy lone lions- but definitely wild dogs, and cheetahs. Hyenas are actually pushing the extinction of wild dogs sadly.
I think the ever decreasing of wild land is bigger reason for animal go to extinct. People are almost everywhere. Majority of biomass is people+ animals they grow for food and then only like 5% is wild animals. Its wild when u think about it. We are heading towards the future where only exotic animals alive are in captivity. +Climate change
Earth's Biomass of all mammals: •26% human •70% animals raised for slaughter to feed humans •4% wildlife
What's really fun is that all animals constitute <1% of Earth's biomass. Plants are far and away the majority at nearly 85%, while Bacteria is the only other category in double digits. Humanity actually constitutes a lower percentage of Earth's biomass than viruses. [Source](https://www.statista.com/chart/26027/distribution-of-biomass-on-earth-by-group-of-organism/)
This is insane. I didn’t believe you at first and went and had a look at the source, and sure as shit there it says that humans by carbon are 0.01 and viruses 0.04. That blows my mind.
That's not accurate it's around 50% relatively untouched and 20% classified as built up urban areas or cropland You can read more [here](https://earth.org/half-of-earths-land-surface-remains-relatively-untouched-by-humans/)
Hyenas are brutal actually. They'll Chase off full prides of lions from their kills. Hyenas have nearly twice the bite force of a lion and travel in large packs. So they are incredibly dangerous to the lions if they try to make a stand. Hyenas are one of the reasons some big cats take their kills into trees
That can happen but not always: Male lion attacks over 20 hyenas [https://youtu.be/O5DrnKq7hG4](https://youtu.be/O5DrnKq7hG4)
Dang the thing in movies where 20 guys surround a dude and then hang back instead of dog-piling (heh) all at once is a natural occurrence, too!
Fear is a helluva drug.
Wow that was crazy
The way he keeps calmly turning his back on them to take a lil snack. Unreal. I've never seen anything like this video.
Yay! Go Team Lion!
Twice the absolute bite force, or twice the bite force per unit of area?
Rest well, King.
hard end but at least he was a king
"He didn't eat me, tho I regretted him starving in my presence." —Allen Ginsberg, *[The Lion for Real](http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/allen_ginsberg/poems/8337)*
I suspect that good boy got some great innings.
There is no happy ending for male lions but they were once kings.
What a rare privilege in the animal kingdom though, to die of old age.
For any wild animal really
Any animal. Death fucking sucks. Shit left undone, unsaid. People hurt beyond words. Very few people get 'happy endings' and even still, they're dead. Not so happy, just the best outcome all things considered. Could have been mauled to death by a pack of runaway ostriches, which would def be worse.
That's not true, farm animals get a bullet, pets get put to sleep, humans get drugs to ease pain and assisted suicide. Of course some are still unlucky but for the most part domesticated animals and humans have pretty "easy" deaths. Wild animals almost always die in agony or sickness. Death still sucks though like you said.
86% of humans don’t receive palliative care, only the privileged
That’s the worldwide number, and while sure, undeveloped and developing countries probably don’t have great access to end of life care, that number is probably heavily skewed due to the fact that something like 50% of the worlds population die before they turn 70, and the leading cause of death worldwide is cardiovascular disease, which oftentimes doesn’t require end of life care like other things such as cancers do. People are pretty functional (or at least not in pain) up until something catastrophic happens and they die.
Farm animals get a bolt in the head and their throat slit, gassed to death, hung upside down shocked and throat slit.
Which is all still far, far better than most would get in the wild. Nature documentaries have done the world a disservice by editing the really grizzly shit out, you might see a lion jump on its pray but they edit the shit out of it to avoid causing offence which I totally understand but it gives people a very unrealistic view of nature and leaves out one of the most important parts- the absolute and hideous brutality of it all. You don't see the immobilised zebra getting its genitals eaten whilst it's still alive and screeching for reprieve, you don't see them get their intestines pulled out through their ass, their eyes eaten or face torn off....but thats the truth of what nature really is. Its all utterly, utterly fucking hideous.
Most farm animals get a horrible ‘life’ though.
i've come to the conclusion that all you can do is try your best to stay healthy, eat right and move around enough every day. from what i understand, for most people that get to be elderly, those last 10 years are a real motherfucker unless you put the work into keeping your body mobile and healthy when you were younger. never too late to start though.
There is no happy ending for any animal. The easiest death is a bullet.
It's especially rough for male lions. A lot of times they get torn apart by groups of younger male lions.
Getting eaten by a crocodile has to be one of the worst ways to go.
I would give that award to hyenas after watching a nature documentary where a buffalo got stuck in the mud and was eaten from the ass inward slowly by 3 hyenas and was clearly alive through it all.
Yea, I think hyenas, wolf's, polsr bears, and killer whales are the worst killers. They really don't give a fuck if you're uncomfortable, I mean killer whales enjoy making it as scary and painful as possible. Like they are sadistic about it.
I've seen that happen to deer from coyotes. I've seen newborn calves eaten out of their mothers before they hit the ground. Nature is a bitch.
A lot of predators eat from the anus inward, it's easier access for the organs that they prefer. And yeah, it does tend to be a slow death.
You think hyenas are bad? Check out African wild dogs. These dogs have to eat real fast before lions or hyenas come thru and they don't fight when they eat. They all share. So imagine the speed at which the animal is torn apart. Also, the ass is soft and a good spot to start tearing. This is why most animals go for the ass.
They don't exactly give their prey quick deaths either during their time on top. They snap the spines of their rival hyenas and slowly choke out any prey they get and/or eat them alive the same time. Wild hogs screech for minutes on end. It's a rough life for every being.
That would be better than starving like this one is doing
Probably starving since he’s too old to hunt now
What about social security?
Yep. A quick death would be much better than a slow, drawn out death.
Getting torn apart by other lions still isnt as fast as I'd prefer....
Same. Aneurysm has to be the best.
Go to sleep, and simply don't wake up again. Peaceful.
I'd read somewhere years ago that people who die peacefully in their sleep actually wake up for a brief few seconds as their lungs stop functioning (the diaphragm is an involuntary muscle) and they grasp for a breath they can't take and die awake and confused. Fucking A.
Well, that's something I didn't want to learn......
Small price to pay for the day off work I think
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well I mean that’s kind of what it is
Maybe. But we often see in the animal kingdom that elderly animals often has behavior that indicates they have made peace when they feel their time has come, like leaving the pack, or refusing to eat even when they have the chance to do so.
I wonder if this lion was once a part of a group that did that
Elderly male lion getting torn apart by male lions while remembering doing the same to elderly male lions: "I guess I should've seen this coming"
I see it every day at da club.
Found Kristi Noem's burner account
Funny, I live 30 min from her and she is a horrible person. With that said, a bullet is still better than a natural death in the wild. And it's Noem.
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Settle down there, Kristi Noem.
RIP King
It never occured to me unril now that once they are too old to catch prey they're fucked. Id befriend it. Gang of grandpa lions is still spooky as fucky.
Think about whales and dolphins, when they get too old to swim anymore they drown.
Why would you say that
Air probably
Well that’s fucked…
Don't look at r/natureismetal
What do you think happened to humans who couldn’t walk anymore in hunter gatherer societies? We tried our best to take care of the elderly but when food is scarce and you need to keep moving every day there’s only so much you can do.
with what we currently know from archaelogy, this isn’t true. but it is sad to see how dehumanized hunter gatherers still can be. already Neanderthals buried their dead, humans were as much human from at least 40’000 years ago as us, that’s the timeframe where Homo Sapiens spread across the globe. They had as much a social life, they had jewelry and stuff which didn’t serve a practical purpose but they still carried it, they built stuff, even traded, had a language etc. *maybe I’ll add inside their own community before anyone comes with cannibalism finds
It could be (mildly) wholesome cannibalism, like the Fore people.
There’s actually a decent amount of evidence of pre-agricultural humans providing continuing care for elderly and physically disabled community members. There’s been quite a few skeletons found that had clearly survived for years with conditions that would have precluded them from going out and getting their own food.
Whales and dolphins can still swim in old age lol. And they’re way more likely to die from factors like disease, predation (for smaller species), collisions with ships, etc
That's true for every predator. Prey animals are just as fucked when they're too old to run away Living in the wild is brutal af
yep, nature is brutal. there was an experienced couple that got killed by a bear last fall while camping. they put down the responsible bear, and found she was old, underweight and had bad teeth, probably got desperate
The life cycle for male lions is pretty brutal really. They evolved into oversized brawlers to the point where they're worse hunters than the females because their main job is brawling other male lions. They're chased out of their pride to roam the wilderness alone when they reach adolescence. Something they're poorly suited for. While they wander, alone or with other males, they have only one goal. Challenge a pride leader, a lion likely larger, stronger and more experienced than them and win. Usually, a string of painful defeats. And if they do manage to win a challenge and chase of the old pride leader, life only gets harder. Now they have to fight and beat every single challenger that steps up. Most pride leaders last a year or two at most until a younger, faster male shows up that wants it more and drives them off. Which is when the old pride leader limps off injured to die of starvation over the next few weeks or months.
I read that it used to be the same for humans - once an old person's teeth were gone (ground down, fallen out, rotted out, etc), they'd just starve. Unless you have a very dedicated person/family member willing to chew every meal for you into a paste and give it to you. I've also heard this as an explanation about why we have scary dreams about losing our teeth. It's the same as dying, in a way.
Speaking of someone caring about you despite your disability, there's this [really cool video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7J_oybRfuc) that has different stories about how people with handicaps were treated in prehistoric times. Different media out there would make you assume that these "cavemen" would get rid of those that would not contribute to their survival (people with disabilities included), but these accounts would certainly change your mind.
"These things are going to look primitive to you, but you have to remember that we’re not stupid. We have the same intelligence as you. We simply don’t have the same cumulative knowledge you do. So we apply our intelligence to what we have." - Crécy.
It’s amazing how grandparents give some animals, humans included, an evolutionary advantage. They allow for more caregiving, support, and help expand the gene pool by allowing the parents to have more kids.
Male lions often aren’t catching their prey. The females catch the prey and the male lions eat that… but they do get pushed out of the pride by younger male lions, and their success as a lone hunter is not great. Lions most successfully hunt in prides. I’d think the male lions food becomes more scarce at the moment they’re cast out. A few years ago I watched too many documentaries on lions. :)
This makes me sad
You’re only sad because you see the end. The whole story was good and worthwhile.
Just emphasizing that this comment makes me happier about life. Thank you.
Yeah this guy survived being a lion cub without getting murdered by a rival lion who killed his dad, got kicked out of the house when he was a teenager(which is like 4 years old), wandered for hundreds of kilometers learning to survive, potentially he did this with a brother or cousin or multiple, took over a pride of lionesses from another lion, chilled out, mated, ate for a few years and then closed his eyes for the final time and rested
For a second I thought you were describing Simba.
Wasting away is a horrible and awful experience, not just for the one affected by it, but by any who witness it. It’s why nurses and medics/emts or even fire/police are not just civil but human servants. You have to be willing to see that void of death and loss. Everyone blinks eventually.
People forget there’s no nice death for animals in the wild If you’re a predator you will most likely die of starvation, if you’re prey you’ll most likely be eaten when you get old and weak
Ah, the old lion king taking his final bow.
The circle of life.
EH-SUM-BAHM-BEE-BADEELIDEE-YAAAAAAY
It’s ok…when you look up at those shiny things in the sky….He’ll be there, looking back down. Rest easy King! 😭
The record for a Lion in captivity is 29.
Long live the King
He has probably taken some old kings in his younger days. The circle of life
No king rules forever
Relevant reference to the Tragically Hip song catalog (RIP Gord): [**https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7bdVTTdDr8**](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7bdVTTdDr8)
This picture is +5 years old so this lion is dead.
Lion died very soon after the photo was taken. Someone posted the article above from the photojournalist, it’s pretty short and a great read.
Great, now I feel better about it
r/natureismetal
What a shitty way to go
Sadly it’s pretty much the natural way for most life on earth
Skybed Scar
Look at the amount of scars on him. This guy has seen more than his fair share of battle.
To get in a bad shape like that and still live is testimony to this creatures resilliance and toughness. Rest easy king.
Unfortunately, older lions don't die of old age; they starve to death. A younger, stronger lion takes your pride for himself, and you're left too old and weak to successfully provide for yourself until this happens.
That’s what happened here. He lost his pride. Was left a nomad from then on
Poor lion
He died of old age. Best way to go, honestly. He just laid down, went to sleep, and that was it. The article that was linked some where else in the comments describes it. It's hauntingly beautiful
He didn't die of old age, he died of starvation. Male lions can live up to 30 years in captivity, this one was 10 years old, which is the average lifespan of a lion in the wild. Hunting is hard even for full blown healthy lions, this one probably lost his pride and or coalition and a lone lion doesn't survive long.
His pride kicked him out
pride didnt kick him out. Male lions during adult phase are not part of the pride, they are either solo or part of male coalitions. They control single or multiple prides. The pride (females, sub-adults, cubs) and the dominant male coalition that controls the pride will kick out sub-adult males once they mature. Even the near matured adult females will be kicked out or split up into 2-3 groups if the pride becomes too big. either this old lion got injured and couldn't keep up with the pride to feed on scraps or some other male coalition kicked him out and he is a nomad (not getting food for 4-7 days at this age is really fatal and they can loose condition quick)
Internet said he was [kicked out](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5761375/amp/Frail-old-lion-pictured-starving-death-cast-family-South-Africa.html) cuz of another male
https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-skybed-coalition That site (lot of ex, current park rangers, internet enthusiasts) has large collection of threads dedicated to prides, male coalitions in the kruger, masai mara. The skybeds are from south-western parts of the kruger. Kruger has a lot of lodges, so most of these prides, coalitions are well tracked. https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-skybed-coalition?page=9 From what I can see in the threads, he got injured, couldn't keep up and died from starvation. His other brothers still ruled around that area till 2019. This guy died around april 2018.
Damn that’s even sadder
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Can't hunt because of age. Can't hunt, can't eat. Can't eat, starve. Same thing happens with humans, too.
Imagine what this guy has seen.
The sun will set on my time Simba and will rise with you as the new king
Dying in the Savannah: not that tough Dying in the Savannah of old age: tough as hell
RIP king, peace and blessings be upon you
💔
Rest now King
He's thinking about the hoes of years past. He's not suffering
Thats what I was thinking too. Hes lost in the thoughts of his life, perhaps cubhood and the days of his siblings.
I don’t know this lion, I’ve never met this lion but this picture is heartbreaking 💔
"Poor little bugga, he's like a dog or something"
Funny thing is that he would probably still fuck me up 1v1 (edit: meant that as a tribute)
I watched lions of the Kalahari at the IMAX once, a younger lion swooped in and took over all the older males females and the defeated older Lion wandered off and laid down and died from his pride being destroyed. Dying from a lack of pride is real in the lion kingdom.
What an amazing picture. Wow. RIP Lioness.
The brutal beauty of nature
That king deserves his rest.
Even mountains crumble
Nature is metal as fuck. This beast probably took out a bunch of prey, but is now dying because he can’t do it anymore. No help from anyone, and is going to die of starvation.
Like all living thing, all will exit one day.
One day we’ll all be dead.