Lions of Sabi Sands

[Cath2020]

(09-20-2020, 05:05 PM)Potato Wrote: "Its quite common for steril lionesses to venture off and mate with other males (Kambula lioness with Othawa male). "

This is quite common for any lionesses in estrus. If lionesses mate with any coalition around then she do not need to worry for potential take over as no matter which coalition in the end will came to power, still her cubs will be safe as each male will see them as potentially his.

No, if she's sterile, then she cannot come into estrus.  She can be infertile, though, and possibly still go into estrus.  But this is assuming that she's in estrus, mating with the males.  Extremely risky behavior because if, on the off chance she conceives, the incoming males will probably kill all the cubs anyway, since they'll have assumed she also mated with HB, the lion they'll try to take over from.   If they takeover without him around, they could be a bit more tolerant.  

I think it's more likely she's mating to stall for time.  They are distracted while they have her and Aunty Othawa (if she also has been with them) to engage with while the teens continue to gain experience and hunting skills, buying them more precious time.  Each month is important. Reply