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Avoca male lions
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Age: 4 years old
Matshipiri & S Avocas “…On the morning of the May 23rd. Shaun D’Araujo and Elmon Mhlongo traced these calls to central Londolozi and found two young males lions that none of us had ever seen before.” The tracks showed where the new males had been walking when they spotted the Matshipiri male. They took off after him attempting to chase him down. There was a point where the new males managed to grab him but he ran a few more paces, dragging them along with him. The scene where the actual fight occurred showed a lot of disturbance to the ground, patches of blood as well as clumps of hair that had been ripped out of his mane. The tracks showed where the older male managed to get away and run off. From there the newcomers continued walking, leaving small smudges of blood on the ground from the base of their paws as they walked. The newcomers were found a little while later, still roaring and walking. They were both limping slightly, with blood on their feet but were otherwise in good condition. Later on that morning, they met up with a Ntsevu lioness who was seen mating with them sporadically." June 2017 “Three mornings ago we bumped into the non-injured Matshipiri male and followed him for 100 metres through the chilly dawn until he lay down in a clearing, looking about him. His face bore many cuts and gashes, and on his spine was a fresh puncture wound, with a thin trickle of blood running from it down his flank. Ranger John Mohaud was joining us in the sighting, and we could see his vehicle approaching, when suddenly his urgent voice came over the radio “There are two more males here approaching rapidly!” Looking towards John’s Land Rover, we suddenly saw the shape of a young male lion emerge from the bushes, and then a second, both moving quickly with heads down, clearly on the scent trail of the Matshipiri male.  *This image is copyright of its original author Needless to say heart rates spiked, but none more so than that of the Matshipiri male, whose head suddenly snapped round as he heard the other males footfalls, and then took off, running for his life. Seeing him flee, the two other males, by now identified as the Avoca young males, immediately gave chase. Luckily we were in relatively open country, which allowed us to follow the lions on a crazy ride as they ran at high speed through a succession of clearings towards the Londolozi airstrip. The two young Avoca males were roaring as they went, but the Matshipiri male remained silent, with only escape on his mind. His saving grace came on the far side of the airstrip, where a thick band of vegetation a couple of hundred metres wide lay between the next clearing.  *This image is copyright of its original author The two lions got up and began retracing their steps, and as expected, it wasn’t long before they caught the scent of the injured Matshipiri male, and had found him within a few minutes. Needless to say, Greg and Alistair expected fireworks, but nothing like that happened. Instead of rushing in to finish him off, the Avoca males simply circled him at a distance, scent marking every bush and tree, but doing nothing to initiate a physical conflict. The Matshipiri male, injured and helpless, simply lay there growling. Unable to run off or rush in to attack, he simply had to await his fate. Interestingly, the two young males, after scent-marking, simply walked away.” Full Blog: https://blog.londolozi.com/2017/06/07/is-there-honour-between-lions/ & https://blog.londolozi.com/2017/05/29/matshipiri-tsalala-males-in-trouble/ |
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