You have probably come across photos and videos from the wild showing tourist vans with lions and cheetahs on top of the vehicles, interacting with the occupants without posing any risk to them
But have you ever wondered why the lions do not attack the occupants of the vans, contrary to the popular belief that a lion would immediately pounce on a human target the moment it sets sight?
In this article, we inform you why the lions seem unbothered to attack people inside vehicles but would probably attack you if you were to walk alone without a vehicle in the park or whatever place you might encounter.
According to research compiled by conservationists and animal experts, a lion would not dare attack someone inside a vehicle, even if the windows are rolled or an open vehicle as is the case with tour vans because it views the van as the real enemy and not the occupants.
Craig Saffoe, a curator of great cats says that in animal psychology, the big cats would rather not attack the people in the vans as they would not want to risk going into a war with such an enormous 'opponent'.
''It’s all about predator-prey dynamics: A lion wouldn’t think twice about going after an individual human, but a motor vehicle is just so much larger than any animal a lion would usually attack as prey (or perceive as a threat it could handle). This dynamic also helps explain why animals do things or have characteristics to make themselves look larger—to avoid being perceived as easy prey,'' Saffoe told the Smithsonian Magazine.
Psychologically because a vehicle is much larger than a lion, lions do not see the vehicle as a source of food and would not want to risk going into a war with such a huge creature.
Secondly, lions seem to only attack a specific target they see as food, therefore it would immediately attack a human walking in the open game as it sees it as an actual food to satisfy its hunger.
Walking in the open field also means that you would likely be communicating to the lion that you are a threat to it or maybe suggesting that you are up for a challenge. In its animal instincts, the animal would immediately see you as an enemy and attack.
As a result of the above, wild cats such as lions and cheetahs resort to climbing on top of the vehicles and looking at the occupants from above.
Lastly, lions are natural predators and often avoid the tag of probably going for ready-made prey like individuals bungled inside a tour van, and in the vent that they approach one, rangers often advise occupants to stay calm and avoid provoking the cats.
Wild rangers would probably not allow tourists to walk inside the game parks, so next time you go visiting one do not ask to be let to experiment on the psychological response of the cats.
