I really can’t get enough of the video. Kevin Richardson is he; he walks among and lion-hugs lions in the wild, as well as spotted hyenas that are seemingly as lovable as domestic dogs…and incidentally…HOUSE CAT INDIFFERENTs: watch your evolutionary great great great great grandparents demonstrate cat-to-human affection, you comfortable, moody, lazy, and nearly worthless high-maintenance and finicky scammers you! It’s amazing; make it your GoTo thing whenever you think YOU have problems.
Kevin Richardson has problems. He could be food, easily; yet he manages it and turns all the trepidation, doubt and fear into his personal brew of lemonade. He’s got to be scared, a bit. Maybe the wild ones are scared too—that he’ll ever make himself look like prey to them.
What a balancing act. I won’t tell you when, but you’ll eventually see how the film crew is protected.
He knows very well it could end abruptly, some day, in a bad way. Seems to me that the benefit he derives now—in the here and now, in an you only live once kinda way—is worth the risk…or, to perhaps state it in a better way: would his life without these relationships be better with the only score card being longer? Or, would he just be miserable longer?
Longevity is a thing. Living is a whole other thing. It’s the science vs. the value, the humanity. Supposedly, what we’re fortunate to be here and live for! Thank Dog! …Or, lioness. Take your pick.
We’re seeing this sort of thing because of the amazing GoPro Camera
After a couple of failed attempts with my 1st generation GoPro (batteries once, no SD card in it the 2nd time) I finally got it right, mashed with some ground footage; so both the launch and fist couple of minutes of flying and about the last minute before landing, are both from the perspective of the ground and the GoPro mounted on my keel with a nice clean mount from amongst the many GoPro Accessories
It’s really quite cool and even all the kids are getting in on the act, stuff all over YouTube capturing fun and moments from a perspective never before available.
And check out the GoPro site. They rotate some pretty amazing stuff through there.
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Yeah, right, Thank doG.
This is why I love my house cats so much. All the delight of interacting with beings that are still very close to their wild ancestors, but with none of the danger. ;)
Kevin Richardson was also the name of a member of the Backstreet Boys. I really hope this is how he’s decided to live his life after music
It might be anthropomorphizing but I’ve heard and read numerous times how lions and hyenas have an antagonism that goes beyond mere competition between species. One show I saw actually said that lions will kill hyenas simply out of spite and will not eat their flesh. Not sure about the truth about any of this.
However, both of these species have keen scents of smell and among much wonder I was left wondering if Kevin made sure to change clothes and/or bathe between visits to these competing species. How would I lion react to smelling hyena on his clothing or visa versa?
Anyways my generation was raised on the “Born Free” saga with principals Joy and George Adamson and Elsa the Lioness so seeing this was reinforcement that other creatures have intelligence, both rational and emotional. Moreover it seems that mammals in particular have much common ground and of course this is reinforced each time we see a new, recent video of the female of one species nursing and raising the young of another.
Perfect, friend. We’ll said. Please don’t tell Toby what I said about domestics. Don’t need another finger prick, unless I have my blood glucose monitor in tow.
Also, the antagonism probably comes from the fact that lions are often lone killers while hyenas are pack, cooperative hunters and killers and have also been known to chase a lion off a fresh kill because she’s way outnumbered. I believe lionesses do most of the killing while the big guys lounge around under a tree yawning, waiting for a Home Killed Meal.
Don’t you just love the natural order?
Free the Animal!
Interestingly, lions will eat other lions and hyenas will eat lions but it’s a fairly accepted fact that lions will not eat hyenas although they kill them very often. No less an authority than Jane Goodall and many others have commented on the seeming hatred lions have for hyenas and the kill but don’t eat paradox.
On a different point compare Kevin Richardson’s interaction with these animals to Timothy Treadwell’s with Alaskan Brown Bears. Richardson has clearly connected with these animals on a deep level where Treadwell always seemed like some kind of delusional Disney child who the brown bears mostly seemed to treat as a nuisance. My theory is that the bear that killed and ate Treadwell was driven by equal parts annoyance and hunger.
Thanks, this movie is just awesome! I watched it several times know and still enjoy it.
Recently I’ve seen the documentary African Cats and although it is a Disney production it is very good to watch, and narrated by Samual L. Jackson, which makes sounds everything exiting of course.