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Lions of Sabi Sands
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The Othawa Breakaway has once again joined up with the older Ximungwe female, but her antics of climbing up any vantage possible are still giving us awesome photographic opportunities.
 *This image is copyright of its original author
Pretty much.
They arent loving fathers of their family of lionesses and cubs like the movies want us to believe. But more warlords that take over prides and demand their taxes of sex and food. While the lionesses mostly make the best out of the situation as they need them for protection against other lions. After a while the two groups get more attuned to eachother and things chill out. But especially in the beginning things can be a lot more violent. 
Apparently Skorro Jnr had a fight with Nhena while on patrol. Tumbela male has a slight limp and lower left lip appears to have a split but no other visible injuries. The time and date of when this occurred is unknown and nothing mentioned about Nhena having injuries.
 
Well, if the Talamati young female will be confirmed as another casualty to PC males, they are startin to have a record. On paper they should be great for Sabi Sands, new fit blood to the gene pool and visually impressive that never hurts as well. But maybe it is good there are just two of them. They are acting in sync with their nature but killing of a female (or attempt of) is not the only possible outcome, in case of Tsalala albeit those being situations with different dynamics Nhenha and Tinyo defended her while PC just helped to kill her. Let's hope this won't turn into inclination to excessive killing, Mapogos got famous for being a force to reckon but their rule was an overall negative and detriment to the population (numbers wise at least). PC males need to succeed in bringing up enough daughters of their own to replace lionesses they kill, especially with multiple prides around them being on their last legs and possibly going extinct, othrwise the population might not benefit from them being around (and bringing afawk unrelated genes) and their phase would be just great for impressive sightings.
And the same time one has to wonder how things would have been if the Nkuhuma and Styx being more receptive to their friendly approach when they encounter them last year and perhaps joining forces as a coalition. Nkuhuma would be better off, Styx might have been alive, the rest of Sabi Sands might have sustained more casualties though and Mhangenis might have moved off completely or been taken over. In comparison Nkuhuma wasted a year.  (04-27-2022, 09:01 PM)RookiePundit Wrote: Well, if the Talamati young female will be confirmed as another casualty to PC males, they are startin to have a record. On paper they should be great for Sabi Sands, new fit blood to the gene pool and visually impressive that never hurts as well. But maybe it is good there are just two of them. They are acting in sync with their nature but killing of a female (or attempt of) is not the only possible outcome, in case of Tsalala albeit those being situations with different dynamics Nhenha and Tinyo defended her while PC just helped to kill her. Let's hope this won't turn into inclination to excessive killing, Mapogos got famous for being a force to reckon but their rule was an overall negative and detriment to the population (numbers wise at least). PC males need to succeed in bringing up enough daughters of their own to replace lionesses they kill, especially with multiple prides around them being on their last legs and possibly going extinct, othrwise the population might not benefit from them being around (and bringing afawk unrelated genes) and their phase would be just great for impressive sightings. Sabi Sands is overpopulated with lions atm i would say, theres lions everywhere. Just look since 2018, Nkuhumas, Talamatis, Torchwoods and Kambulas pretty much double their members count. Those prides are too big now and are starting to split, making new prides. Theres never been so many gruops/prides in Sabi Sands for what i remember.. So PC males killing few females means nothing, in fact its nature balancing itself, more lion gruops in 1 area, means more clashes which leads to deaths or prides leaving this overpopulated area to restore balance.
I think we will see more conflicts between the various prides. Lionesses will get killed trying to find mates, like what doomed the Ximhungwe pride. While others will fall victim to fights over kills, losing cubs and adults in the process. Eventually various of the smaller less established prides, especially the newly formed breakaways will go extinct that way. While other lionesses will be forced into nomadhood and adopt a more leopard like lifestyle.
Not trying to make this a debate again but this ranger is absolutely taken away at the size of Nhenha and thinks he is around 250kg. He also thinks he is definitely bigger than Skorro Jr and is worried for that reason. Another ranger marveled at Nhenha's size.
https://instagram.com/stories/lionsighti...DJmNzVkMjY= 
Torchwood I presume, on the Nkorho cam currently. Only youngsters at the moment
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Eh, every male lion is declared to be the future biggest king of Sabi sand etcetera at one point. Unless he has shot both and measured their corpses. I would not put much stock in such claims.
As its often just fanboying or selling safari tickets.
Any actuall proof that Skorro Jr fight Nhenha? And where was NK male when those 2 where fighting? 2 experienced nomads would definitely took that chance to kill dominant male. So this is quite strange.
Also, looks like theres definitely 1 Othawa cub gone, today still only 5 cubs. (04-28-2022, 12:47 AM)Duco Ndona Wrote: Eh, every male lion is declared to be the future biggest king of Sabi sand etcetera at one point. Unless he has shot both and measured their corpses. I would not put much stock in such claims. This doesn't make any sense. He is seeing the animal in front of him with his own eyes and saying how he feels, you can say he is "fanboying" because he is impressed, although I wouldn't use that word,but how is he selling tickets. He is simply in awe of what he is seeing in front of him. There is no harm in praising Nhenha or any lion for specific reasons on this platform. And I'd put more stock in this than a word of someone who hasn't seen these animals up close. As I said, I wasn't trying to start a debate, only to show what the ranger thought of Nhenha.
If it isn't already difficult to measure size without a ruler, lions can vary largely in size thorough the week. Looking very big and impressive right after a meal, but thin and scrawny after a few days without a meal. Often these measurements are made by watching one lion from a great distance one day, and then the other days later and comparing them from memory. Making these sorts of guesses very unreliable. Especially if one of such animal is the watchers favourite.
(04-28-2022, 02:28 AM)Duco Ndona Wrote: If it isn't already difficult to measure size without a ruler, lions can vary largely in size thorough the week. Looking very big and impressive right after a meal, but thin and scrawny after a few days without a meal. Often these measurements are made by watching one lion from a great distance one day, and then the other days later and comparing them from memory. Making these sorts of guesses very unreliable. Especially if one of such animal is the watchers favourite.This is just denial at this point. This ranger isn't the only ranger praising his size. What you say is true in certain contexts but your argument is incorrect. Yes 250kg is simply an estimate based on the average size a large lion should be. But this is simply the praise of a lion, there is no reason to refute it. |
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