I spent a very pleasant 1/2 hour watching a lioness moderate a contest between a hyena and two jackals over a piece of meat. I was with a tour guide and two other folks in a Land Rover in the Serengeti.

Apparently the lioness had killed and eaten something and had no further interest in the carcass or a 20 or 25 pound hunk that was left on it. There were other animals in the area, but none brave enough to approach the carcass as long as she was around. As she left the kill a hyena ran in and grabbed at that larger chunk. It was pulling and tugging and working pretty hard at it when the lioness turned around and saw what was going on.

She came back at the hyena full speed, she wanted a piece of it. (Lions and hyenas will kill each other for the hell of it. Competing for the same food sources, the species have developed a mutual hate.) The hyena ran, standing off just far enough to be safe from the lion. As that happened, the two jackals charged in and grabbed at the meat, pulling, tugging and trying to tear it off.

After the hyena had retreated a safe distance the lioness turned around and headed back to that from whence she had come. The hyena then chased off the jackals and started chewing. The lioness, who did not seem to mind the jackals at all, ran back to get the hyena, which took off again.

That repeated itself for about 1/2 hour until the hyena did tear most of the hunk loose only to drop it getting away from the lioness. The jackals managed to rip it into smaller pieces, the larger of which they got away with.

We were sitting about 100 feet away during all of this, and had the same impact on the animals as would a rock.