Lions use roads to make giraffe hunting easier

Giraffes, normally fleet-footed creatures for all their size, run much better on the grassy plains than they do on a hard surface. A giraffe forced to run on a paved road slows down, apparently through loss of traction (or perhaps just because it hurts to strike a hoof on asphalt.) As Darren Naish reports, lions in the Kruger and Nairobi National Parks have learned how to use this fact. They force a giraffe onto a road and chase it down there, with a improved probability of success vs chasing a giraffe across the plains.