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History's most brutal killers, the Majingilane Male Lions
History's most brutal killers, the Majingilane Male Lions
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History's most brutal killers, the Majingilane Male Lions
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 (04-04-2018, 02:36 AM)Amayas Wrote: Those contrasting pictures of Scar Nose are very emotional. Nothing can escape death or the eventual senility. It was really hard to read that post. I ended up crying like a child. But let’s all be grateful for the 8 years they ruled and all the cubs they sired that reached adulthood. They will always remain an enigma.   (04-04-2018, 09:02 PM)Chris Wrote: Now due to the health of the majingilanes, do you think they end up joining there sons? Not really. Usually if an animal sense that something's wrong with his body, it prefers to get away, to hide. If they are as bad as they're portrayed to be, then they're going to do that as well, instead of staying close to the pride. Notice that instead of staying with the Othawa pride, who could in theory have fed them, they moved to the east and separated, without a reason to because they have not been chased off by rival males. The only instance I'd see them join up with maybe the Othawa male is having been chased off by rivals and them being in a good physical condition. (04-04-2018, 11:13 PM)Tshokwane Wrote:(04-04-2018, 09:02 PM)Chris Wrote: Now due to the health of the majingilanes, do you think they end up joining there sons? Your right, but wouldn’t that be something, them join there 9 sons or the Ottawa son, what a story it would be but like you say will have to wait and see.
Tshokwane i think the buffalo herds moved out from west. There is no much meal there for now. Maybe the reason why all mhangenis left the west throught the southern and eastern areas. Majingilanes stayed and then starving a lot. Now there is no other way than moved to other areas to try to survive.
Photo credit chelseasepp1
Scar nose a few weeks back. Around 9th March 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author
  (04-05-2018, 11:56 AM)sanjay Wrote: Sorry, If i miss something, What happened to Golden mane ? Missing from more than a month. When he was last seen, he was having injuries from a buffalo hunt. Lodges are writing him off. Most likely he may be dead. We never know, he may emerge in a good condition soon.. fingers crossed... 
Yes, in most cases such a mysterious disappearance often results in death or missing forever
Credits to James Tyrrell - Londolozi. Pics by Alex Jordan.
Another Majingilane at Death’s Door Two days ago we posted about the Scar-nose male of the Majingilane coalition being in poor shape, and wondered where his old patrol-mate, the Dark-maned male, might be. We didn’t have long to wait. Yesterday morning, the excited whooping of hyenas caught ranger Melvin Sambo’s attention, and moving through a thicket towards the source of the calls, Melvin and tracker Milton Khoza saw three things; a leopard in a tree with a kill, a whole lot of hyenas harassing something beyond the leopard, and in the middle of the marauding clan, the Dark-maned Majingilane. Quite possibly the lion had seen the leopard’s kill and had hoped to steal it, but in his condition that was never going to happen. Whether or not the hyenas had been attracted by the kill or by the presence of the vulnerable male lion, it is hard to say. Blind in one eye and with his ribs protruding badly, it can’t be long for the Dark-maned Majingilane…  *This image is copyright of its original author Once the most dominant male in the most dominant coalition of the Sabi Sands, it seems a tragedy to have to witness him in this state. Our eyes almost don’t want to take in the reality of what they are seeing. This group of four male lions had been around so long, their presence seems almost inseparable from the concept of the Sabi Sand Wildtuin, and call it human indulgence, but we don’t want to imagine a reserve without them. Only in January, the remaining three (the Missing Canine male was still alive then) were trailing the Mhangeni pride and looking incredibly impressive: It’s hard to believe that the health of the coalition could have taken such a dramatic turn for the worst in such a short space of time, yet only just over two months later it seems the end is imminent; one of the males from the video above is dead, and the other two are emaciated, separated from each other, and seemingly just hanging on for a few more breaths. In the sighting from yesterday, the Dark-maned male was being pestered by the hyenas, yet didn’t even make any move to attack them. Reportedly the only time he did make a move of any significance was when a large rhino bull approached, forcing the lion out of the shade in which he was lying. A male lion in his state would barely have the energy to do more than that, and would be ultra-conservative in his movements. He did at one point attempt to excavate a burrow in which a warthog must have been hiding, but nothing came of that. The male tries to extract a warthog from its burrow, without any luck.  *This image is copyright of its original author We drove down to the sighting that evening in the hope that he may still be around, but in the rocky terrain movement in the vehicle was difficult, and we were forced to abandon the search. There is a whole series of hyena dens not far from where the male was seen, so at dusk he probably thought it more than prudent to move on. The question now is what has happened to him? Just like the Scar-nosed male, the Dark-maned male’s mane shows very visible deterioration as he loses condition.  *This image is copyright of its original author A number of vehicles have revisited the area but there has been no sign of him for 36hrs. Likewise in the north, there has been no further sign of the Scar-nose male. Despite the start of this year seeing a number of prominent lions dying, the first being the Tailed Tsalala female, it is never something one can simply get immune to as an observer. There is a certain amount of comfort that we can take in knowing how and where a lion we have spent so much time viewing, died. A simple disappearance and surmising of what happened denies us the closure that we find so important in death, even if it is the death of a wild animal. The Majingilane were at Londolozi before I was, and have defined the lion dynamics in a large portion of the reserve for my entire life in the bush, and I have to admit that me driving around yesterday evening, searching for the Dark-maned male, had an element of selfishness to it. I think that after so long and so many sightings, although he wouldn’t have a clue who I was or even have the slightest concern for yet another green Land Rover, I felt it was important just to see him one last time, and silently say goodbye.
Very dramatic indeed..Who would have thought that the Majingilane Males and the Matimba Males vanish from the face of the earth in the first half of 2018.
They are desperated for some food. There was no take over or some enemy. Is just oldness and lack of food. If some elephant die of natural cause they could be saved. But the lucky looks like is gone.
Really sad to see the demise of such iconic lions. Their decline has been heartbreakingly rapid. I think the death/disappearance of Golden Mane was the hammer blow to their chances of survival. He was quite a bit younger than his two brothers and therefore likely to be fitter. Just my personal theory but his loss would have significantly reduced their efficacy as a hunting unit.
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