🦁
Lion
Panthera leo
Carnivores · Vulnerable
vs
🐃
Blue wildebeest
Connochaetes taurinus
Mammals · Least concern
47 clips name both of them
2.1 million views between them.
Blue wildebeest outweighs Lion 1.2× — 181 kg against 149 kg. Both figures are averages across males and females.
Tale of the tape
Body mass
149 kg
🦁 Lion · COMBINE
181 kg
🐃 Blue wildebeest · COMBINE
Shoulder height
1.15 m
🦁 Lion
no figure yet
🐃 Blue wildebeest
Body length
2.17 m
🦁 Lion · COMBINE
2.21 m
🐃 Blue wildebeest · COMBINE
Top speed
55 km/h
🦁 Lion
no figure yet
🐃 Blue wildebeest
Bite force
1,768 N
🦁 Lion
no figure yet
🐃 Blue wildebeest
Maximum lifespan
30 yr
🦁 Lion · COMBINE
25 yr
🐃 Blue wildebeest · COMBINE
Bars are sized against the larger of the two figures. Bite force figures come from individual studies and vary a lot between sources.
Animals caught on camera
Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.
Shared ancestry
The closest group they share is Laurasiatheria (superorder), home to 4,193 species.
They last shared an ancestor about 64 million years ago.
Estimates range from 58 to 76 million years; the figure above is the middle estimate.
About this estimate
Dates from Upham, Esselstyn & Jetz 2019, PLoS Biology 17:e3000494 (CC0).