Longest swim by a lion

The longest continuous swim ever recorded for a lion (Panthera leo) is approximately 1.5 km (0.9 mi), performed by two adult males, Tibu and his three-legged brother Jacob, in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park on 1 February 2024. The lions were swimming together across the Kazinga Channel, a crocodile-infested waterway connecting Lakes George and Edward, probably in search of lionesses to mate with, which they could hear calling. The linear distance swam was about 1.1 km (0.7 mi), but allowing for various changes in direction undertaken along the way, the total distance covered by each was closer to 1.5 km. For a species that until now was thought to swim no more than around 200 m (660 ft) at a time, this is a massive distance, equivalent to the swimming leg of a human Olympic triathlon. The lions were filmed by a team led by Dr Aleksander Braczkowski from Griffith University and included Luke Ochse, Bosco Atukwatse, Orin Cornille and Uganda Wildlife Authority Rangers, using a drone carrying a thermal camera, which stayed at least 50–75 m (165–250 ft) above the lions at all times. The findings were published in the journal Ecology and Evolution on 10 July 2024.

What makes this record-breaking swim especially remarkable is that whereas Tibu was in a good state of physical health, his 10-year-old brother Jacob only possessed three limbs, his fourth having been torn off by a poacher's steel trap some time earlier. On top of that significant injury, he had also been gored by a buffalo.

During previous, aborted attempts at swimming across the channel, the two brothers had been pursued by an unidentifiable predator or aggressor, believed by the researchers to be either a Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) or a hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), which probably accounted for why their subsequent successful swim was so prolonged and therefore exceptional.

The recording of the record-breaking swim was quite fortuitous because the actual reason that the researchers were filming the lions was to determine whether Tibu actively and therefore altruistically assisted his maimed brother Jacob in any way with the procurement of food.

Photo credit: Alexander Braczkowski