It looks like it was bitten to me. The thought also crossed my mind that he may have lept from a tree and caught the foot in a fork in the tree and hung from it twisting it around until it was badly damaged. Who knows? I know the breeding age males almost all have damaged skulls from fighting. Many have bites which penetrate the bone, countless big lions have broken zygomatic arches at least one side. Many are healed with a sloppy connection and lots of deformed bone growth. They are typically more damaged then big bears on average.

Actually there is no comparison to the frequency of damage between the bears and the lions. Lions are almost all damaged in some way from fighting. Or quite possibly from the animals they prey on. I see lots of them which have been kicked or maybe even stepped on by big animals like elk. I suppose there are so many stories involved with Lions and elk that you can only use your imagination on what might occur when a 150 pound cat trys to bring down a 750 to 1000 pound (or more) animal like an elk. Imagine the elk falling at speed on top of the lions head! I think it would crunch something important!

Whats amazing is that they continue to live and hunt with no medical attention and severe head injuries. In this case a severe foot injury. I have photos that would blow your mind from skulls I have processed with so much damage that it would seem impossible for the animal to live. The healed bones look like a chunk of sloppy plaster slaped onto the bone in a big nasty lump. Kinda like calliflower growth. I can post some I guess if there is enough interest in seeing them.

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