What eats a lion?

Humans eat more lion body parts than any predator of the lion. I am going to take an odd approach in answering this question. I know people want to know which animals eat lions and I suppose there are referring to lion cubs being attacked by hyenas and perhaps leopards. The lion cub is vulnerable to predators, there is no question about it. But the adult lion in Africa has no predators and there is little chance that they'll be eaten by another predator unless they are very infirm and elderly.

Humans eat more lion body parts than any other animal. Pic; Getty Images.

But the point that I want to get to is this: by far the biggest eater of lions are humans. The question doesn't ask what animals eat lions; it asks what eats a lion. And if you wanted to add up the amount of flesh and bones that come out of a lion which is eaten by people the tonnage would be far in excess of any other animal or perhaps all animals combined. This is because people like to eat lions. They eat lion bones and any other part of a lion to give them health and strength.

This superstition emanates from Asia. They also eat tiger body parts as well as you probably know. But as long as they are eating a big cat which is renowned for being strong and powerful they think that eating the body parts of such a creature imbues them with that power and strength. It's all complete madness and it results in lions being bred to be killed for their carcasses in South Africa. These are canned lion hunts. They are cruel and despicable in the eyes of any animal advocate.

The life of a lion cub bred in captivity for canned lion hunts is brutally sad. It is mapped out and all of their life is for the commercial market. None of it is natural. It is a total abuse of lions.

But wherever a lion is killed and for whatever reason they can be butchered and the body parts channelled into this other market which is supplies lion body part products to be eaten or drunk by people. I don't want to go into it in detail because it's too gruesome. But I believe that any lion which is kill for any reason is channelled into the lion body part marketplace where it ultimately ends up in Asia.

So, for example, if a farmer kills a lion in retaliation because the lion killed his livestock then that deceased lion is valuable in the marketplace. But they are so valuable that they are bred to be killed and slaughtered like livestock. It's exactly the same for tigers in China. There are 8,000 tigers in China in tiger farms been bred to be slaughtered their body parts.

Humans are the most prolific eaters of lions and they eat these big cats with great eagerness in the firm belief that it does them some good but there's no science whatsoever to support this attitude. It's all idiotic superstition. Of course meat is a product and therefore it feeds people but to kill lions and endanger their survival in the wild because people want to eat their body parts is a form of madness in humankind. It's a descent into callous idiocy.

It is also a bit of ancient history which has survived to today. The belief comes from a thousand years ago. Anyone who believes eating lions and tigers makes them stronger etc. has failed to develop. They are trapped in the ignorant past.