That's some classic footage from a National Geographic special narrated by Powers Booth. I believe it was first aired back in 1990. The special documented the perpetual warring relationship between lions and hyenas. Hyenas constantly harrass the lions, trying to steal their food, and kill the lion cubs. Lions will kill the hyenas if they get the opportunity, but that is rare. But what the documentary showed was that surprisingly, lions can display some more advanced emotions and thinking that you'd expect out of humans.
Specifically, in this case, the emotion was pure hate. Normally, if an animal is threatened, it responds to the threat until the threat appears to be gone; then it practically forgets what it was doing minutes ago and goes on about it's business. Toward the end of the documentary, one lion in particular displayed some complex thinking that suggested otherwise: The hyena queen had been giving this particular pride a lot of trouble, and had been getting away with it. All during this time one of the junior males they named "Intwydemela" (spelled phonetically I guess) was getting older, his mane is getting bigger, and he's getting real pissed off. In their last encounter, the females in the pride manages too protect the cubs, and chase off the hyenas. Things are calming down, but Intwydemela hears the scuffle from a distance while he's off doing something else. He comes blasting out the tall grass, and decides he's had enough. That hyena queen is going to die today, and it doesn't matter how long he has to run after her. Even though he's still a junior in the pride, and he hasn't even been provoked, he's had fucking enough, so sure enough he chased her down and clamped down on that neck.
That was a big day for that lion, and I wonder if he's still alive.
