Lions of Sabi Sands

[Tshokwane]

Yeah, many in the comments tried to say that.

Quote:And another thing i want to add is that you guys need to clear the confusion of the Mhangeni cubs fatherhood. Since its obvious that there has not been any sort of Majingilane/Mhangeni interaction over the last year. We need to accept that the Matimba Males are the fathers of those cubs.

Quote:The adult lionesses have brought their cubs into Matimba territory very often which is enough for us to believe that those cubs are Matimba Hairy Belly cubs.

Quote:I think i haven’t heard of an update of Mhangeni interacting with Majingilane over the last year. Also their territory as shown above doesn’t extend to Majingilane territory. Doubt Majingilane sired the new cubs. Likely fayhers are Matimba Males.

Quote:Chris… The new set of Mhangeni cubs are sired by Matimba Males.

And yet, Londolozi's answer is always the same.

Quote:it is almost certainly the Majingilane that are the fathers of the cubs, not the Matimbas. They were seen mating with the Mhangeni adult lionesses in Singita and further west.

Quote:That is not conclusive enough proof unfortunately, and in terms of being in Matimba territory, they have only brought the cubs into the very fringes of the areas in which the Matimbas appear.

It is generally accepted by those on the ground here that the cubs are fathered by the Majingilane.

Quote:The bottom line:
It is always possible for the Mhangeni lionesses to have mated with the Matimbas without anyone having witnessed it.
Given that different male lions can sire different cubs in the same litter, it would therefore be impossible to conclude with any amount of certainty who the actual fathers of the cubs are.
In a litter of 6 it would be hypothetically possible to have both Matimbas as well as all four Majingilane each fathering one cub….

We cannot therefore say for sure, despite far more mating interaction having taken place between the Mhangeni adults and the Majingilane. We have also yet to see the Matimba males with the cubs. On the contrary, the Majingilane have been spending a lot of time with the youngsters and the adult females.

For me, that leaves it quite clear. They are there, watching them everyday while everyone else is just reading words in a computer.

The one thing that they expressed was this:

Quote:The Breakaway Mhangeni females have been mating with the Matimba males however, so should they have cubs within the next year it is almost certain they will have been fathered by the Matimbas.

Reply