Lions Find Lone African Wild Dog Puppy—What Happens Next?

By Bethanie H

Published

04/11/2025

A wildlife enthusiast who goes by Liza Kruger captured rare footage of a pack of African wild dogs relocating to a new den, and a few of them eventually came face to face with a trio of sub-adult male lions. There were about 10 tiny puppies and two older wild dogs in the traveling pack, which Liza filmed near Satara Rest Camp in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

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Liza points out in her YouTube description that denning near a road is risky for wild dogs, not only because of humans and cars but also because it exposes the pack to predators when they change dens. In this case, a couple of hyenas were trailing the wild dogs. While the older wild dogs occupied themselves with the hyenas, some other predators came sniffing—lions.

“During the move two hyenas started following the pack; while the two adult wild dogs were preoccupied with the hyenas, the pups were left unguarded and became vulnerable,” Liza explained in her YouTube caption. “This was when three sub-adult male lions took advantage of the situation.”

In the video, you see the lions sniffing and prodding a puppy. Liza says lions don’t typically eat wild dogs, but they do eliminate them if they can to reduce competition for resources in the area. How do you think this played out?

See a clip of several lions coming across a wild dog puppy here (scroll to see the full YouTube video):