Lions of Sabi Sands

[Duco Ndona]

A bit of both...
Its not uncommon to hear about infertile lionesses and I recall only 30 to 40 percent or so of heat cycles results in pregnancy. So they are not that fertile. 

Which got me wondering why this is, as you would expect the fertile ones would breed out the infertile ones.
I think its because it helps to keep a healthier cub adult ratio in the pride. So there are more lionesses for each cub to hunt and protect them.
And since the infertile lionesses keep mating, this keeps the male lions interested in the pride. So they don't wander off to find their sex elsewhere leaving the pride exposed. 

This increases the chance of the cubs survival. Which may give a pride an edge over a pride of fertile myrtles. Reply