00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 Normally, lions don't attack adult giraffes
00:09 because of their deadly defense methods and killer kicks.
00:12 This unique footage filmed in South Africa
00:16 shows just how dangerous an attack can be.
00:19 But in Sulu Game Reserve,
00:23 adult giraffe carcasses litter the landscape,
00:26 and no one knows why or how
00:28 lions are toppling such massive animals.
00:31 To find answers, research director Dennis Ikanda
00:39 has almost 1,800 square miles of inhospitable land to cover
00:44 with few dirt tracks.
00:46 But he wants to document all the giraffes he finds.
00:51 - We're here counting the number of giraffe groups
00:57 throughout this game reserve.
01:00 We've divided it into three to five different transects,
01:03 so we're moving along each of these sampling transects
01:07 and recording the number of herds that we come across
01:11 and their age and sex structures.
01:13 At the same time, we're recording the number
01:16 of giraffe carcasses that we come across,
01:21 and should we come across any lion group
01:25 along the transect, we also record them.
01:27 - There's a lot of giraffe herds for Dennis to record.
01:31 This part of Sulu is a stronghold for giraffes,
01:36 with over 3,000 in the reserve
01:38 attracted here by the Acacia woodlands.
01:41 After a week of surveying,
01:44 he has the results back from the kill sites.
01:46 - From the look of it, we clearly see there's a pattern
01:51 where attacks have mostly concentrated.
01:55 - Up to now, the giraffe kills appeared
01:58 to be in random clusters, but with more information,
02:02 it seems there's nothing random about these sites.
02:05 So what is happening in Sulu Game Reserve?
02:12 Why have the lions switched from hunting wildebeests
02:17 and zebras to targeting colossal adult giraffes?
02:21 (dramatic music)
02:25 After an extensive investigation,
02:27 Dennis' research team has finally uncovered an answer
02:31 that is both complex and incredibly simple.
02:34 They've recorded the location
02:38 of every giraffe kill on the reserve.
02:41 Added to the carcasses he found in 2011,
02:47 the new positions have revealed a definitive pattern.
02:50 (dramatic music)
02:53 They're spread over an area of just 25 miles
02:57 and in two distinctive landscapes,
02:59 wooded slopes and on dry riverbeds.
03:02 - The patterns that we see is that most giraffe kills
03:07 cluster in this particular habitat type,
03:11 and looking around, you see there's lots of sand,
03:15 there's a lot of brush,
03:18 and all this clearly shows that the nature
03:22 and topography of the habitat around here
03:25 clearly has a part to play.
03:28 - Adult giraffes can weigh in at a massive 1.7 tons
03:34 and are designed to run on hard, compact ground,
03:38 not the soft, sandy riverbeds of the Sulu.
03:41 - You can see that the lions are taking advantage
03:45 of this sandy soil.
03:47 It's very difficult, as it is, even for us.
03:50 You know, when you're walking, your feet are sinking in
03:52 and you don't really have that balance you need
03:55 to fight off a group of lions
03:56 that are busy trying to attack you.
04:01 And as with many of other kills that we see,
04:05 this sandy location happens to be where the giraffe
04:09 finally gives up its struggle against these lions.
04:13 (gentle music)
04:15 (gentle music)
04:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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