The Matimba coalition

[Mdz123]

(11-17-2022, 06:30 PM)Potato Wrote:

(11-17-2022, 07:54 AM)Mapokser Wrote: and their pictures and videos from 2011 clearly show that they couldn't be as young as 4, plus, their behavior, would 4yo males get in long clashes, chases, chasings and even brutal fights against fully-developed males such as Mapogos and Majingilanes?

Look at the examples of Charleston males, Mbiris, Othawa male or now Mayambula males. Not every male develop in the same way. Some are more impressive than the others because of different (better) genes and/or food access therefore judging age of the males purely by their appearance can be missleading. You say Matimbas must have been older than 4 years old in 2011 because they were already territorial and had nice developed manes. You should check how Mayambula males look like now, having 4 years and also being territorial. 

Indeed, Mayambula males have been impressive from a very young age, as they carry the genes of Zigzag and Shaka and thus the Matimba males. Many other powerful coalition's offspring develop impressive manes at a young age, examples are Nguvu (Majiniglane) back in 2018 when he was 3 but looked like a 4~5 yrs old, and PC males (Mantimahle).

Some male lions born to less powerful coalitions can also have dark manes at a young age, such as Dark Mane Fourways male (Mathsapiri), and the current oldest Nkuhuma subadult and Talamati subadults (Avocas), who has really dark mane at their age of around 4

Despite this, there are also lions who were born to strong coalitions but still look younger then they are, such as NYM (BBoys), who looks younger then his age of around 7 yrs old. Young Shish (Older Shish) back in 2020 looked around 4~5 yrs olds but they were actually ~6 yrs old, as they are now 7-8 yrs old.

So basically we cant really make out a lion's age exclusively based on appearance. Reply