The Ecology of an Elephant Kill: Lion Defleshing of an African Elephant in the Okavango Delta (Botswana), and Limited Kleptoparasitic Opportunities for Meat-Eating Scavengers

Abstract

Here, we document the immediate aftermath of a lion predation event on a juvenile elephant in a private concession near the southeastern border of the Moremi Game Reserve (Okavango delta, Botswana). The carcass was monitored over a four-week period to assess patterns of defleshing and scavenger activity. Lions were the primary consumers, rapidly defleshing most anatomical regions within the first week, with minimal evidence of early hyena involvement. Hyenas appeared later but had little impact on the bone assemblage, likely due to food abundance in the ecosystem. Remarkably, soft tissue structures like podal pads remained intact after a month. These observations have implications for paleoanthropology, suggesting that bulk meat from megafaunal carcasses would only have been accessible to early hominins under confrontational scavenging scenarios. Additionally, the data provide ecological insight into carnivore competition and resource use in high-biomass landscapes.