Lion pictures and videos

[Sully]

Rivalry between lions…

We set out for an early morning safari in the northern part of the South Luangwa National Park, Zambia. Picking up the sight of vultures dropping onto the ground in the distance, we headed towards them, hoping that perhaps the resident Mwamba lion pride had killed something the night before.
Indeed they had – we quickly found all 19 of the pride (including 2 males) feeding on a fresh buffalo carcass. The pride are well known for preying on buffalo and they have many battle scars to show for it. They had killed the buffalo in a large area of long grass so it was hard to see the individuals but we eventually accounted for all 19.
Suddenly, while most were feeding, several of the pride stood up and stared intently across the river. We followed their gaze with binoculars and couldn’t see anything initially, but eventually spotted two male lions from a neighbouring pride walking along the top of the opposite river bank. They appeared interested in the buffalo kill and the females feeding on it but they looked young and we assumed that they were aware of how unevenly matched they would be if they challenged the males with the large pride. Some of the pride began to call to affirm territorial claim and the young males on the opposite bank lay down, apparently thinking again about approaching. The pride continued to feed.
Soon enough though, one of the young males began to move again and descended the river bank and waded across the river towards us. This drew considerable attention from the whole pride who stopped feeding and watched his approach carefully. At this point, the intruder was still 400m from the buffalo carcass. After reaching dry land, the youngster pranced along the bank, feigning indifference at the 19 pairs of eyes glowering at him.
About 300m from the main pride, he lay down on the sand close to the water and waited. One of the pride males started to walk towards him, but approaching from behind, apparently stalking the younger lion. Of course, the youngster was more than aware of his presence but chose to lie still. Barely believing what we were seeing, the young male allowed the larger pride male to stalk right up to him, reacting only when the attacker was almost on top of him.

*This image is copyright of its original author

It was over in about 10 seconds, but the photos show that it was not merely a ritual – the youngster was rolled on his back and the older male picked up some cuts on his face – but soon the pride male had re-established his claim and was pursuing the other down the sand.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

With the roars of 18 other lions deafening us from behind, we watched as they ran for around 1km before the intruder re-crossed the river and disappeared. The pride male was panting heavily but returned to the pride – who had gone back to eating!

*This image is copyright of its original author

When the river levels are low, as they are in the Luangwa during the dry season, animals cross the river daily to reach new feeding grounds and challenge territorial claims. In this case, I think the youngster was aware that he was no match for the larger lion, but was perhaps testing the boundaries and the dominant male’s strength. Without challenging him, the younger males will never know when it’s their time to take over and claim the breeding rights to the 17 females!
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