Lions of Sabi Sands

[Mapokser]

This might be relevant to the discussion of what a dominant male is, a Mala Mala report on the 2 eastern Mapogos:

February 2010

• 2 Mlowathi Males (8 years 3 months): (21 sightings)

Success has come in small doses for these males so far. For such a completely dominant pair they have yet to produce a single cub or take complete control of any pride. The only pride under their complete dominance is the Marthly pride but this pride gets very little attention from the males has their attentions are taken by the prospect of more prides. The reality is that neither the Styx pride or the Eyrefield pride have accepted them and have gone into hiding leaving the males to bounce between the two Styx females in the Mlowathi and the two Eyrefield females around the airstrip. Besides ripping our lion prides apart these two males have to prove their worth and one begins to wonder if they ever will. Lets hope with all the mating they have been doing this month that cubs are just around the corner because otherwise we might be faced with a situation where the two prides will split which would be the worst scenario for the lion population.

Mala Mala points out that despite being very dominant in Mala Mala ( and for a long time ) they lacked control over any prides there, their only pride was the Tsalala pride which is basically a Londolozi pride.

So weren't they dominant over Mala Mala and also northern Sabi Sands before? They also never controlled any prides in Djuma besides mating with some Nkuhuma females, still they were considered dominant there before getting ousted by Gijimas.

The fact is that they did had control over these lands, they chased off intruders, fought off intruders and even killed them sometimes. It's silly to say they weren't the dominant males just because the prides kept avoiding them. A dominant/territorial male and a pride male aren't necessarily the same thing. At this time the Eyrefield and Styx prides with the Rollercoaster male were basically nomads avoiding the Mlowathis, Rollercoaster wasn't territorial, he wasn't roaring or scent-marking, he was "ousted" multiple times by the Mapogos, still he was the pride male of the Eyrefield and Styx females, the same way Mlowathis were the dominant territorial males of the land but weren't pride males in that region. Reply