Coalitions of Kruger National Park

[Potato]

When two different lion coalitions feed together, it can lead to intense and brutal fights. Lions are territorial and social animals, and even within coalitions, they can become highly aggressive toward one another when food resources are at stake. The fight typically erupts over a sense of dominance; larger males from a coalition may attempt to intimidate or physically overpower others. In this case on the H6, close to Satara Rest Camp in the Kruger National Park, one coalition consisting of the Nwanetsi male and a lion of an unknown origin with one blind eye and another coalition consisting of the young Nkaya Pan male and the old Ngotso male were feeding together on a zebra kill. Earlier that morning the Nwanetsi male chased the lighter coloured young Nkaya Pan male off the kill, this suggests that the Nwanetsi male sees the younger Nkaya Pan male as a rival or inferior and is establishing dominance over him. In the afternoon the Nwanetsi male and his partner with one blind eye was feeding and the old Ngotso male joined them without a problem, maybe he is not seen as a threat because of his age. The real tension surfaces when the young Nkaya Pan male tries to join again in the afternoon when he was fiercely attacked by the Nwanetsi male (from the other coalition) and chased off. The Nwanetsi male likely views the younger Nkaya Pan male as a threat to his position, either because of his potential to challenge him for dominance or because he wants to maintain control over the kill without the interference of a weaker rival.

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