Lions of Sabi Sands

[Duco Ndona]

Its always intense to see this. These are tourists afteral and there would have been no shame in driving off. But atleast they did film it for us to study. So cudos to that. 

Its interesting the two stood there next to each other for a while. So the male was clearly pondering the situation and trying to make up its mind. 
I don't believe there is a instinctual drive to kill cubs to get lionesses into estrus. If that was the case, the cub would have been death much sooner. 
But they are so low on the things a lion should not kill list. It would just take the slightest provocation to be put on the things a lion should kill list. In this case I think it was just a short glance of eye contact it seems. 
But it could just as easily been a weird sound or a wrong move from the mother. 

In a perfect scenario. The male could have lost interest and spared the cub. But even then, it would likely be a postponement of execution. Reply