Lions of Sabi Sands

[sundarbans]

A lot is written about male lion coalitions and there seem to be a fanatical following of some coalitions as well as individual male lions within that coalition. But in lion society, the pride is the most important structure and responsible for the success and proliferation of the species. So I wanted to see which of the current or past SS lionesses you lot think are iconic or are your favorites. I'll start off first.

My undoubted favorite has to be Sassy the Othawa lioness. From a sentimentally genetic perspective, she is a conjoining of the bloodline of the two most (in)famous lion coalitions in SS. But her own life has been remarkable. She had to go through a relatively tough adolescence as her fathers died when she was barely 3. She seemed to have been a precocious hunter from an early age and along with her brother the Othawa Male, definitely helped the aging and small pride survive those tough months without any dominant males. They even helped out in a couple of scraps with the Mhangeni pride as well. Apart from her undoubted hunting acumen, she has proven to be a great mother as well, having successfully raised all 3 of her first litter to an age where they were able to disperse successfully from the pride while also navigating a pride takeover when the litter were only subadults. And it seems like she is well on her way to replicate that success with her second litter as well. I believe she is only 8 years old so she is in her prime and should be able to raise 2-3 more litters while leading her pride for around 7-8 further years. If she sticks around that long and replicates her cub-rearing exploits, the Othawa pride will well and truly be rebuilt and thriving by the time she is done. And that would be a fitting legacy for her. Reply