My Lion King Forum

What do you think killed Mufasa? The fall, or the wildebeest, or a combination of the two?

Here's my personal theory: Mufasa was probably heavily injured by the time he was climbing the cliff. When we see him fall, we can see the rear end of the stampede a few shots later, so I personally think it was the fall and he broke his back or something.

What do you think?

If the fall didn't kill Mufasa (which I think it did. A 200-poundish lion falling about 100 ft, that's a lot of momentum to stop instantly), then the stampede certainly finished him off. While I do think that the fall is what killed him, there is a high chance on landing on one or more wildebeest (I've heard some people say that he fell on top of that dead tree he was found next to, braking it), at which case both killed him.

Because there is an uncertainty factor in both decisions, I am just voting for both. If it weren't for the stampede, Mufasa would never have fallen.

There's already a thread similar to this ---------> viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14536

Just sayin'...

Now for the topic, there's a reason why Scar wanted the stampede below. Not only to draw Mufasa to save Simba, but he must figured out that the fall was not enough to kill Mufasa. Sure, the impact of the fall would have damaged his spine, and it's arguable if Mufasa would have survived the fall had the stampede not been there. From how I view the brief scene, the impact of the fall crushed his vertebrae, but whatever little life he had was taken away from the trampling he suffered from the wildebeests. My theory is that the wildebeest stampede killed Mufasa.

But wait just a minute....

Everyone knows Scar killed Mufasa, and cats land on their feet. So, I'm voting neither, but there's no such option in the poll.^^ So darn it!

Now, back to being serious, it's simple physics. For fun, use this website: Energy of falling objects. Research how much a healthy grown-up male lions weights in kilograms, estimate the height level, make up the reasonable numbers for KE and density, and the website will calculate the average impact force. The rest is up to you....

[quote="TheLionPrince"]There's already a thread similar to this ---------> viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14536
[/quote]

I saw that, but I thought since it had been inactive for so long (6+ months, I think) it would be okay to start it up again =)

And also, I used your link. If Mufasa weighs about 250 kg, and fell about 40-ish meters (maybe that's too high?)
It was calculated to be an impact force of 784000 newtons

His spine must have been powdered

[quote="Ninaroja"][quote="TheLionPrince"]There's already a thread similar to this ---------> viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14536
[/quote]

I saw that, but I thought since it had been inactive for so long (6+ months, I think) it would be okay to start it up again =)[/quote]

I know you're been a member here for two months, but why bother start a new one? This forum has revived old threads pretty of times. Just recently, I revived a thread titled "Misheard quotes", and it received 6 posts since then.

Just sayin', it would have been one less throwaway thread.

[quote="Ninaroja"]

And also, I used your link. If Mufasa weighs about 250 kg, and fell about 40-ish meters (maybe that's too high?)
It was calculated to be an impact force of 784000 newtons

His spine must have been powdered [/quote]

Yes, it would. Hopefully, it would adds more to the argument if you can visualize the impact force Mufasa must have felt into determining whether Mufasa died from the fall or the stampede.

Speaking of which, where's Scar on the poll? He killed Mufasa, and admitted it. Did the fall or the stupid stampede admit to killing Mufasa? Let me answer it for you: NO! lol

[quote="TheLionPrince"] I know you're been a member here for two months

[quote="Ninaroja"]

Haha, I've been here a bit longer than that still a bit of a ditz on forum rules though (On the last forum I used to go to you got into trouble for bumping topics)

And haha yeah, Scar did kill him but the fall/stampede/whatever you consider it to be was the thing that caused him to die

[quote="Ninaroja"]
And also, I used your link. If Mufasa weighs about 250 kg, and fell about 40-ish meters (maybe that's too high?)
It was calculated to be an impact force of 784000 newtons

His spine must have been powdered [/quote]

It is too high. A full-grown male lion weighs about 250 pounds, so only a little over 100 kg.

Now I know for a fact that a human survived a car crash (Formula 1, going very fast) that involved 100 G-s. Lets assume that Mufasa faced the same accelerations on impact, because a 100 mph car crash is roughly equivalent to a 100 ft fall (F = m * a, or F = m * a/G * #ofG).

This means that Mufasa felt a force of 111363.64 N. Still a lot, but quite less than the 784000 N that you got.