Lions of Timbavati

[Potato]

Tanda Tula

Sadly, the week also brought with it a rather sad confirmation. If you remember last week, I speculated that five of the six River Pride cubs had gone missing and had possibly been killed. Well, after a full week, I think we can now confidently say that there is just one left. We sadly do not know what happened to the other cubs, but they could have been killed by hyenas or even other lions. I know this is a huge disappointment for many of you that read our weekly updates, but unfortunately this is nature, and it really is what animals go through in the wild. One minute a pride can be bustling with young activity and the next it can feel like the entire group has imploded. This is actually fairly common and even those cubs that have a supportive and protective group stand a high chance of mortality. Still, it never gets easier for all of us out here to stomach. It is, without a doubt, the most heart-breaking part of being afforded the opportunity to spend so much time with these animals.

The good news is that the one cub that is left should receive all the protection and support from the rest of the pride, which hopefully will mean its survival to adulthood. On the other hand, one of the Nharu males and River Pride females have been off mating over the last few days, so maybe there will be new cubs in three or so months. Nonetheless, it was amazing to have been able to observe all the cubs and I will remember them, along with so many other lost cubs, for my lifetime. I am sorry that I wasn’t able to get an image of the surviving cub this week for all of you, but we will continue to share the River Pride story.

*This image is copyright of its original author

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