Leo : The Lion King

[3rd POV]

The release of the documentary's first episode was nothing short of extraordinary. Leo was already a global superstar through animal edits and social media posts, such as articles and Instagram. He was branded the biggest animal celebrity in the world, earning recognition similar to Harambe and Koko the gorilla, Luna the killer whale or Hachiko among the dog lovers.

So when the official documentary of Leo dropped, people had high expectations. But even with that, the first episode alone had shattered every expectation.

In just one week, the documentary surged to the top of streaming charts worldwide. It broke viewing records across multiple platforms, from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc., to other regional networks.

It turned out that people were easily intrigued by a badass lion. And that easily turned into an obsession when taking into account Leo's past impact on the internet.

And now episode two has arrived. The viewership was already eclipsing the first episode, causing many networks to crash.

The title of the episode alone already had people in a chokehold.

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(Documentary Episode 2: The Price against Three Crowns)

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[Name: Dr. T. Soma Tonson

Role: Lead researcher and ethologist.

Nationality: Indian (from Nagaland, Northeast India)

Age: 62]

"It was the fifth day since we had our first encounter with Leo. On that day, we witnessed him hunt for the first time. We were intrigued by his intelligence and his adaptive style of hunting where he could come up with different strategies depending on his prey," the doctor began the episode by briefly recalling what was in the previous episode.

"It also gave us our answers on how he was able to hunt without a tail. The way his whole body structure had adapted to his disability and made it an advantage instead. We saw how explosive he was during hunting, and he cemented himself as the perfect ambush predator, more successful than any other lion we encountered. But we ended the day with more questions than answers," he said.

The scene changed to show Leo after hunting the impala. He was dragging his prey towards the shade of a tree, sparing huge effort as the shade was quite far from the kill.

"One of the curious things Leo had the habit of doing was dragging his prey towards the perfect spot. It could be a shade, behind a bush or a mound. When it's feeding time, everything has to be perfect for him," Dr. Tonson said over the footage.

After Leo brought the impala to the shade, he started tearing through his meal. The footage was clear and vivid since the researchers had the perfect angle to shoot the video.

After a few hours of eating, Leo was done with his food and he left the remains of his kill under the shade for the vultures to scavenge.

"Of course, since he was a lone male, the kill was more than he could finish. He feasted on the best and juiciest part of the carcass and left the unsavoury bits of the kill like the stomach, intestines, skin, bones etc."

"A seemingly normal action that would lead to something disastrous," Dr. Tonson said in a foreboding tone.

The camera focused on the innocent remains of the impala and then panned outward to show Leo leaving it behind. The lion came straight towards the camera and passed it with a silent dignity before disappearing again into the horizon.

"All seems well. Leo went back to his home in the kopje with a full belly. He must've thought he ended the day on a good note and a successful hunt," Dr. Tonson said.

"But in moments where everything seems right, that's when nature finds a way to create chaos. We will all find out soon enough that such peace does not exist in the unforgiving land of the Serengeti," he said.

The footage changed to an aerial shot of Leo as he reached his home. He climbed up his hill with the gentle firmness of a contented beast, and then he slept in his usual spot which was in the small cave on top of the hill.

"Like usual, we sent a drone to take videos so that we could study him without too much disturbance. On the other hand, we still remained at the killing site. The slight elevation of that area was quite nice, so we were thinking of setting up a camp there," Dr. Tonson said.

"But then he came,"

The scene finally cuts to a lion. But this time, it was not the tailless beast that we had come to learn as Leo. Instead, the video showed a lion king fully grown and in his prime, slowly making towards them.

This was the first time this character was introduced so the camera slowed down and captured in detail how the lion moved. The slight twitch of the ears, the flickering mane of thick brown and then black. The muscles that pulled and rolled with every step he took.

Indeed, this was not Leo the main star of the show. But it was still one of the most majestic animals on the planet. A symbol of royalty, pride and power.

"One of the three dominant kings that ruled the Serengeti region. Perhaps it was fate that he had patrolled this exact path and at this exact time," Dr. Tonson said.

"The king found the remains of the impala which Leo had left behind. And one sniff was enough to catch the scent of an intruder."

"All of a sudden, Leo caught the attention he should never have and we all knew something big was brewing on the horizon."

The scene showed Roku curiously sniffing the remains. The smell of another lion was easy enough to decipher for his powerful nose.

His eyes shift from the carcass towards the sky and then Roku released a thunderous roar.

"It was the start of the war between Leo and the three kings of the Serengeti. It was a bloody war that spanned over two years and ended with only one lion standing."

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[Name: Hana Park

Role: Zoologist and Big Cat Specialist

Nationality: Korean-American (from Seattle)

Age: 34]

"We mentioned this before previously but our meeting with Leo was by chance and our early research a coincidence. The reason why all those fundings, people and equipment were in the Serengeti was to study the pride led by these three kings. The researchers named them Snow, Dexter and Miles," Hana explained to the audience.

The screen showed the three kings of the Serengeti and the researchers that were constantly studying them from a distance.

"And it was the lion we named Miles that found the remains. He was one of the smartest lions we've ever observed in the wild so there was no way that he could've just ignored such an obvious clue. Had it been any of the other kings they would just ignore it but this specific lion was too intrigued by the fact that a predator left such good remains and the scent was the final nail to the coffin. He started tracking Leo down almost immediately," Hana said.

The documentary showed a footage of Roku, named Miles by researchers to honor the first man to photograph him, curiously sniffing the remains before tracking the scent on the ground like a dog.

After a few sniffs, Roku followed the exact path that Leo took to get back to his home. It was like he could see the past with how accurate he was at tracking.

"Before we continue this I want to give a short summary of what we knew of the three kings of the Serengeti. The three kings were blood brothers sired by the same dominant male. We believe they came from the southern fringe of the Serengeti and came down all the way over here after they were kicked out of their pride," Hana began explaining.

"In their youth, the three brothers went on a campaign of conquest. They were bold and reckless like every young lion but unlike others, they had the strength to save them from these reckless tendencies. Every one of them could be said to be superior in genes compared to the average lion, especially Snow and Dexter. They were a extraordinary, formidable even alone. But what made them a true force of nature was the fact that they were in a coalition. A two lion coalition was already uncommon but a three lion coalition was a rarity," she said.

"They were first observed by a photographer in their sub-adult days. It was during this time that they began their conquest. In total, they killed six different lion kings and took over four different prides. The territory they occupied now used to be shared among four different prides which is the reason why it's extremely large and Leo could remain unnoticed for a good while even in their territory," she said and then a map was shown to accentuate her points.

"They drove off every lion in their territory and took everything for themselves. It's why their pride remains one of the biggest in the whole Serengeti with 30 members and nearly half of them being fully grown lionesses. But as they grew old and became wiser, they stopped their campaign of conquest. It was also around this time that researchers were sent to study them in their own habitat," she said.

The scene cut to a massive stretch of savannah with lionesses hunting, cubs playing, and the three brothers lounging on top of a massive rock like the kings they were.

"With that being said, you could understand how we felt when one of them finally tracked down Leo in his home in the kopje. Leo, whom we thought at that time was a normal adult without a tail, although remarkable, would not have survived an encounter with one of them," she said.

"We followed the king as he slowly made his way to Leo. We were determined to get the full footage of the first confrontation between these two. Although we thought it would not end well with Leo, we were itching to see how he would fare against the king. How he would fight in his tailless self," she said.

The scene finally cuts to said confrontation. It was early in the night with the sky painted with endless stars because the moon was barely visible on that night.

The footage had a greenish hue as the camera used night vision to take the video. It was too dark to capture anything with a normal camera.

Leo came down and stood in front of the king. They both remained at a distance from each other until the king made the first move by circling around Leo.

"We thought for sure he would try to run, but Leo didn't give an inch."

There was a pause, the lions were silent before they both erupted in beastly growls that shook the ground with its vibration.

"Little did we know, we were witnessing not the death of a rogue male in the hands of a king,"

"But the first step towards the complete erasure of a legacy,"

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[IMAGE]

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Author : That will be all for this week. See you the day after tomorrow.