History's most brutal killers, the Majingilane Male Lions

[Fredymrt]

(03-03-2016, 01:07 AM)Majingilane Wrote: Black Mane, credits to Idube. 

*This image is copyright of its original author

He and his brothers are still hanging around with the Othawa pride.

. Check this ?one of the reasons buffaloes live in large herds is for defense against predators, but it is not hard to see why calf mortalities would be higher in big herds. Births are generally timed to coincide with the wet season’s optimal veld conditions and although a 26-54 kilogram newborn can stand after 10 minutes and can follow its mother within 2 hours, it needs several weeks to keep up with the herd. As the dry season advances grazing in the vicinity of perennial drinking water becomes trampled, forcing big herds to range up to 18 kilometers from surface water which they visit once or twice daily. A study partially done in MalaMala revealed that herds would trek up to 10 kilometers at night in search of better grazing. The long journeys at walking speeds of 5-6 kilometers an hour rapidly tired suckling calves and juveniles up to 2 years old. Distress, disease and parasitic infections exert their most profound impact at such stressful times. In their weakened state, calves lag behind or drop out of the herd altogether, becoming easy prey for lions and hyenas.
I mentioned ‘disease’ earlier; allow me to elaborate as this is directly related to the question ‘What are the possible consequences?’
One will find few buffalo at MalaMala that are disease free, indeed, only 2.3% of all South Africa’s buffalo are disease free. Most in Kruger have corridor disease, foot-and-mouth, brucellosis and/or bovine tuberculosis (BTB).
BTB first entered the Kruger ecosystem between 1950 and 1960, transmitted by infected cattle on 2 farms bordering the Crocodile River. Initial estimates predicted that it would take 40 years to spread through the Kruger’s buffalo population but it took just 15 years. As it spread its infection was also detected in lions, leopards, cheetah, hyenas, kudus, eland, impalas, bushbucks, baboons, warthogs, bushpigs, honey badgers and large-spotted genets. In these secondary hosts, infection often leads to severe loss of condition with large predators, especially lions, being particularly vulnerable as they are at the top of the food chain. In 2003 early symptoms of BTB-related ecological disturbances were being reported. For example, buffalo herds with a high BTB prevalence appeared more vulnerable to drought and because lions target the vulnerable their prey base accumulated a disproportionately high prevalence of BTB. Testing of sample lions in southern Kruger has shown that about 80% were infected or had been exposed to this highly contagious bacterial disease. BTB is having a big effect on lion social behavior. Male lions are dominant at kills and eat the choicest parts, such as lungs, which are a main sight for BTB lesions and bacteria. The disease weakens these dominant males and the knock on effect is not hard to imagine. Reply