A huge amount of lion activity went down yesterday morning, and this time it wasn’t of the ‘two cute cubs’ variety…
The Ross breakaway lionesses (one of whom is a new mother) and two of the Trilogy males were found by the nThambo Tree Camp dream team, Matt and Isaak. The foursome was found feeding off a buffalo carcass, and were exhibiting some serious vocalisations. Even though these lions are close and are somewhat of a pride, there is no love lost between them when it comes to feeding. The males were dominating the carcass and the breakaway females were hanging back desperately awaiting their turn to feed. Watch the clip portraying the vicious snarling that took place between the lions and lioness at the carcass!
Next to join the party was a third lioness, whom we have come to know as a recent acquaintance of the breakaway lionesses (read up on when and where we met her here). This female is full of attitude and she knows how to fend for herself. This time was no different, as she defended her position on the buffalo carcass despite the threatening growls and lashes of the 2 big males who clearly did not want to share the meal. Jacques, from nThambo Tree Camp, captured some video footage of her fighting for her place, which demonstrates just how brutal feeding time is for wild lions. We also observed how the Ross breakaway lioness obediently submits to the male lion’s warning to stay off his buffalo feast.
By this stage we’ve tallied up a total of 5 lions at the kill site, and what’s more is that 4 members of the Ross Pride had picked up the scent of the carcass and were noisily approaching about 100-200m from the carcass. Surrounded by lion vocalisations, Africa on Foot and nThambo guests sat tight and counted 9 lions within 200m of each other – tensions were running high!
After a short inspection, the 4 Ross Pride lions turned and retreated from the scene. One of the lionesses looks in desperate need of some nourishment, and hopefully the small pride pulls off a successful kill soon… without the domineering presence of the Trilogy males!
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