Lions of Sabi Sands

[titose]

(10-28-2020, 11:59 PM)Slayerd Wrote:

(10-28-2020, 11:36 PM)titose Wrote:

(10-28-2020, 10:02 PM)Slayerd Wrote:

(10-28-2020, 07:59 PM)titose Wrote: Lion Follow-Up

Acouple of days ago we wrote about the Ntsevu pride starting to splinter as the lionesses start giving birth to new litters, and the Othawa male was thrown into the mix, much further east than we’ve seen him before.


Last night he had moved even further downstream in the Sand River, and his calls as the sun started to set initiated a bellowing match between him and one of the Birmingham males in east-central Londolozi, about four kilometres away (see map).
Often when big territorial males hear an intruder, they are immediately up and running in his direction, intent on committing grievous bodily harm to the interloper.

Not this time though. The Birmingham male simply lay there, often roaring from a fully reclined position. He seemed quite content to erect that vocal boundary rather than initiating a physical confrontation. The theory was that being alone, he was reluctant to engage in a fight. If his coalition-mate had been there, it may well have been a different story.

Although we could not hear the second Birmingham male calling from where we were (with the first Birmingham), we figured it likely that at some point during the night the pair might meet up to at least roar in a united front, in an attempt to drive the Othawa male away. The lioness the Othawa male was with was, after all, an Ntsevu female, and the Birmingham coalition should certainly feel their proprietary rights were being infringed upon.

Lo and behold, this morning at around 05:10, before the sun had risen, we found the Birmingham males with the bulk of the Ntsevu pride, only a few hundred metres from where the Othawa male had been roaring. The second Birmingham male had come from the deep south to join his brother, and together they had moved north.

I’ll be perfectly honest here and say that I don’t – nor can I – know the exact motives of these two males for being where we found them. Truth be told, it’s more often the pride that dictates the direction and pace, and the male(s) simply tag along behind. It does seem highly coincidental though that the morning after an intruding male was roaring from their territory, the dominant pair showed up at almost the same spot and their rival was nowhere to be seen.

This theory pretty much falls apart if the Othawa male was still close by (we didn’t find him). Or it can hold, but it means the approach of the Birmingham males didn’t have the desired effect and the intruder wasn’t to be deterred.

I don’t know how much info is conveyed in a lion’s roar; whether or not males can ascertain the threat level of a foreign male just from his voice. They can certainly tell the difference between roars (people can do it too, but it’s tricky and you need to have heard individuals roar a good many times before you start recognising their specific call) and know when a roar is not made by a lion they know, but beyond that, I’m not sure.

I think tonight will be when we find out more. If we hear the Othawa male roaring from close by, the intimidation tactics of the Birmingham males have failed and they’ll have to come up with another plan.
If the Ntsevu female is still with the Othawa male and he’s still close by, this may be the tiniest shift in the male lion power struggle that we’re witnessing…

Written and Photos by: James Tyrrell

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

From the post, it looks like Tinyo is the one who had a roar off with the Othawa Male. I understand the Rangers thought the Birmingham males were only in that location the next day because of the pride but Nhenha does seem to be scent marking so it does seem he is in a dominant mindset. It also seems the Othawa Male and Birmingham don't have a very competitive mindset even though the Birminghams have chased him off a buffalo kill a few months ago. We haven't seen a confrontation between them before. For all we know Tinyo was simply warning the Othawa Male but we also can't understand the mindset of these males at the end of the day.For example, It might have been a different story if it was Nhenha. As Londolozi reported, Nhenha chased the Avoca last month. People don't believe it because James attached a photo of Blondie and not Nhenha however James said it was true and he just attached the wrong photo. If Nhenha was confident enough to confront 2 prime males, I don't think he'd be too afraid of the Othawa male. We will have to see what happens next though.

Hi Slayerd, Nhenha chasing the Avoca males was just speculation. Since he used the word "I think" and never claimed that it was 100% true and hence James himself erased his own post!

It did indeed happen. James confirmed it in the comments.

The story he told had many incongruities, he never affirmed in the main article, there was only speculation on his part (James Tyrrell). In fact that is why he deleted it... I think this Avoca and Birmingham stuff is boring, so let's focus on the recent news! 

The only thing that I have read is that one of the two Birmingham males was challenged by the male Othawa who is a beast in body and there was no response, for me it was very accurate from the Bboy since a physical confrontation in a 1 vs 1 would be detrimental to the 2 males as it could cause serious injuries and there is much to lose and little to gain since the male Othawa himself is not a serious threat... And I think the smartest thing the Birmingham male did was to wait for his partner to deal with the threat more decisively! Reply