At the Movies   / Big Cats

Swimming Lions

Summary: Botswana's Okavango Delta is a unique natural resource, one of the largest deltas in the world. Until 20,000 years ago the delta was a massive freshwater lake. Today it is an oasis teeming with an amazing cross-section of unexpected animal life. Fish, crocodiles, hippos and antelope coexist in the delta, and the lion rules this kingdom.

In the Okavango Delta, where anything is possible, lions are doing something unexpected ? they have taken to water and become supreme swimmers. They have attracted international interest and Animal Planet's Swimming Lions introduces us to the team of scientists ? led by Christiaan and Hanlie Winterbach ? who are engaged in an ongoing quest to understand this quirky leonine behavior. During the program, we also meet Sadu, a lioness who has successfully adapted to her unusual environment and passes her skill on to eager cubs.

Life in the delta may be set in wondrous surroundings, but that doesn't make it easy. Swimming Lions shows the problems that lions in the region face and what makes them stay in such a challenging environment where they must struggle to survive. We learn that the lions' amazing powers of adaptation may be tested even further as the delta's flood area grows slowly with each passing season.

One thing is certain: the swimming lions of the Okavango are not to be underestimated. Fantastic footage of these magnificent predators as they hunt and move through the water to make dramatic kills proves their staying power.