Lion cub playfully wrestles with hyena pup

These rescued animals were together to keep each other company, and have no idea they're not even the same species; to them, they're the same, and on the inside, they are: two babies who want nothing more than play! Except that the hyena is a bit more energetic and eager to play-fight! How adorable is that?!Show more

Lions and hyenas in general, occupy the same geographic range, in the African continent, although different species of hyenas inhabit different areas, and the Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena) is also native to the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent, where lions no longer occur.

Since they are both carnivores and top predators, they are always competing for food, making them enemies in the wild. Although lions are three to four times larger than hyenas, the teamwork of a hyena clan can often intimidate a lion away. Both species are also extremely territorial and aggressive when it comes to one another, killing each other's young when given the chance. In 1999, a two-week-war between the two species was recorded in Ethiopia, leaving 35 hyenas and six lions dead.

However, don't always have to fight each for food. As we all know, hyenas are also scavengers, which means that they don't always hunt their own food, despite being perfectly capable of doing so; sometimes they eat the leftovers of someone else's kill. So a lion may hunt his meal, eat all the parts that he likes, and then abandon it; the hyenas then come and eat the rest, without having to fight the lion, that already has a full stomach.

As top predators, they don't have predators of their own, except for humans, who keep decreasing their populations.

But these two innocent babies are completely ignorant of that old rivalry, and proceed to do what children do better: play!