A wildebeest saved its life by running right off a steep natural embankment, rather than taking on a hungry hyena.
The wildebeest smashed its face on the way down, and the hyena was right on its tail.
Michael Laubscher, an international expedition and tour leader for Wild Eye, filmed the sighting at the Wild Eye Mara Camp in the Masai Mara and shared his footage with Latest Sightings.
According to Latest Sightings, spotted hyenas ‘have a reputation for being scavengers, but they’re incredible hunters when they need to be’.
When a herd of wildebeest realised they were being targeted by hyenas, chaos broke out as they started running in different directions.
Getting caught in a stampede can be dangerous for the predators, and the hyenas knew this. The only option was to single out a wildebeest, and that’s what one of the hyenas did.
“Wildebeests are fantastic runners and would normally be able to outrun a single hyena. Unfortunately, it was driven near the edge of a cliff, and there was simply nowhere to run… It flew for a few metres before smashing into the bank head-first.”
Even though it was dazed, it got its footing and dashed to safety in the water below.
