Lions of Sabi Sands

[Slayerd]

(10-15-2020, 08:02 AM)Gijima Wrote: The Kambulas were historically not great at keeping cubs alive. Litter after litter were lost or abandoned from 2016-2018. Maybe initially it was due to inexperience, but there is also something a bit off about this pride (the Birminghams brought a lot of stability). Based on their aggression towards their male offspring so soon I’m hoping this current litter doesn’t turn into a Mhangeni 12 situation. Here is the official Mala Mala quote from 2018:

“ The lionesses managed to bring down a buffalo in the area on the 4th and a Gowrie male and the four cubs soon joined them. This led to another mind-boggling moment when one of the females proceeded to kill two of her sister’s cubs while they were at the buffalo carcass. This peculiar behavior has left everyone scratching their heads, as we seem to come up with more hypotheses than answers.” Feb 2018 report 

“ Multiple females from the Kambula pride have been seen mating with the Gowrie males throughout the month. This unfortunately indicates that all the cubs have died as none of them were seen for the entirety of the month.” March 2018

They basically abandoned/ killed their previous cubs even though the Birminghams had accepted them.

I don't think they are as crazy as they used to be. Young lions can be aggressive and unpredictable. The Kambula were only 4 or 5 years old at that time. The Kambula were also abandoned at a young age. The Mapogos and the Birminghams are signs of males that had that unpredictability. I've stated before that the Birminghams refused to mate with the Nkuhuma even though she was trying to mate and were instead trying to kill her and the Mapogos don't need examples as they were very unpredictable. My point being females also can have that unpredictability as well. There are cases of this unpredictable behaviour. As I said established prides won't have this problem. However ever since the Birminghams brought balance to the Kambula pride, they have been doing incredibly well. They've successfully raised most of their cubs to adulthood despite having to feed so many mouths. Yes they are aggressive but even this behaviour of them attacking young males is not out of the ordinary for lionesses. The Kambula are becoming a stable pride and I'm sure will be a long lasting pride. They have also not mated with any close relatives and have completely new blood in their genetics from the Birminghams which is healthy for the prides future. I'm really confident this pride has a great future ahead. Reply