Lions in South-Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia

[Cath2020]

The Trichardt Males were doing fabulously well!  I just cannot believe that one suddenly disappeared.  They were very much in prime shape.  All those cubs!!  I think 22 total!  So much legacy in jeopardy.  I really hope that some of them will survive.  Unfortunately, the lone male will have to hold the prides for another year at least and maybe the oldest will have a fighting chance if the lionesses separate and runs off with them.  All cubs are under a year old....

Edited to add that I just checked some footage and apparently there were at least 5 cubs seen with one of the Trichardts back in mid-May of last year, playing and jumping on him, so the oldest must be around 1.2 or 1.3 months already....as they would be around 3 months by then.  Out of 22 offspring, surely a good handful will survive at least.  If more than half make it, then that is way more than was hoped for considering how young so many are now!  Can one male, the less dominant of the two, protect all of them for a year or more? Reply

[BA0701]

(11-27-2023, 02:49 AM)Brahim Wrote: New male recently brought to Schotia private game reserve, Eastern Cape Addo; To introduce new genes to their lions. Known as the Barbary lion, aka Cape lion. I believe he is 5 years old.
Credit: Schotia Reserve

The only time I have seen belly hair like that is in captive raised lions, I see he is currently on this reserve, but do we know if he was captive raised? Reply

[Mapokser]

@BA0701 many of these lions from small private reserves where they have no competition or stress, look like captive animals.

Life in such reserves is quite "easy", sometimes they even feed the lions, but even if they don't, life is still in nno comparison close to free-roaming lions, and they always get the best genes every generation because the reserve always buy the biggest and best looking lions to mate with their pride. Reply

[BA0701]

(04-28-2024, 09:32 PM)Mapokser Wrote: @BA0701 many of these lions from small private reserves where they have no competition or stress, look like captive animals.

Life in such reserves is quite "easy", sometimes they even feed the lions, but even if they don't, life is still in nno comparison close to free-roaming lions, and they always get the best genes every generation because the reserve always buy the biggest and best looking lions to mate with their pride.

Yeah, that is what I thought, thank you, my friend. Though, I am not sure there is much distinction between captive raised, and lions on a reserve that actually feeds them.

I also wonder if he is a real Barbary Lion, or if they even have the ability to tell such things anymore, or if that name comes from his appearance. I have seen other lions, all captive kept, where people have speculated that they may be Barbary Lions, my guess is it the result of their appearance, and not scientifically proven. Reply

[Brahim]

Alot of small reserves have the same no interfering policy they won't feed them or treat injuries. Reply

[Brahim]

@BA0701 I think he's meant to be more like the Cape lion from South rather than Barbary not sure why the guide gave me both nicknames probably so people more interested. But he probably has some percentage of Cape but none can be pure anymore. Reply

[Brahim]

When I visit Morocco they have many zoos with descendants of the Barbary lions from the atlas mountains that the King kept. They are probably as close as you can get to pure Barbary but even those were apparently tested and even though they had high numbers they were mixed at some point. Though they claim some are still pure. Reply

[BA0701]

(04-30-2024, 06:40 AM)Brahim Wrote: When I visit Morocco they have many zoos with descendants of the Barbary lions from the atlas mountains that the King kept. They are probably as close as you can get to pure Barbary but even those were apparently tested and even though they had high numbers they were mixed at some point. Though they claim some are still pure.

That is very cool, so it would be possible to reintroduce the bloodline into the wild, though as you mentioned it wouldn't be pure. I'd imagine they'd be some massive beasts though, for sure. Reply

[BA0701]

(04-30-2024, 06:34 AM)Brahim Wrote: Alot of small reserves have the same no interfering policy they won't feed them or treat injuries.

That is surprising, I would have thought the private reserves would want to get the most out of their investments, at least perform veterinary as needed. But, you have to give the reserves who do abide by such rules credit, for keeping nature as it was intended. Reply

[Mwk85]

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[Robot00]

How far is he from his father? Maybe there's a chance for them if they're nearby and they should still remember eachother Reply