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02-12-2022, 05:29 AM( This post was last modified: 02-12-2022, 10:17 AM by criollo2mil )
New Tintswalo Virtual Safari
Sightings of All Three Tintswalos. Lambile must have a hyper drive on his metabolism,,,,he just cannot keep weight on. If he ever did get his bulk, he would be among the largest lions in the area.
With Lambile also having that "skinny" condition/health problem like his Nharu brothers Scar and Limper, i wonder if that has something to do with genetics..
We dont know about 2 Nharu brothers who disappeared in Kruger, but out of remaining 4 we know, only Skorro Jr. appears full healthy.
(02-14-2022, 10:05 PM)Tr1x24 Wrote: i wonder if that has something to do with genetics..
Might be as Sizanani as well wasn't particularly muscular, through Scar Tumbela clearly had health issues, regardless if he was "naturarly skinny" or not.
(02-14-2022, 10:05 PM)Tr1x24 Wrote: With Lambile also having that "skinny" condition/health problem like his Nharu brothers Scar and Limper, i wonder if that has something to do with genetics..
We dont know about 2 Nharu brothers who disappeared in Kruger, but out of remaining 4 we know, only Skorro Jr. appears full healthy.
I’ve had this same theory / concern. As if there was some sort of genetic or nutritional indeficiency of those cubs. But I can’t quite nail that down because the females littermates DO NOT suffer this loss of condition. Unless it became exasperated by the stress of ‘nomadic’ life somehow. But then again, Lambile was never quite a nomad. It’s very mysterious to me. How so many of them suffer from maintaining condition.
02-15-2022, 05:19 AM( This post was last modified: 02-15-2022, 05:24 AM by Cath2020 )
Lambile doesn't look good at all. Reminds me of Scar Tumbela. I think he will go the same route, unfortunately.
As for his affliction, it could very well be genetics. If it's an x-linked issue (which are very well documented in humans), these males could have had the gene passed only down the maternal line....or it could be a y-linked disease, passing directly down from Sizanani himself. However, Siz. survived to about 9-10 years of age, and wasn't as severely affected by TB (or whatever else he had, maybe just a severe injury from a buffalo hunt). I wonder if the rangers took DNA samples from his body after he died and had experts compare them to that of his sons. With x-linked issues, a male would ONLY need one copy of a defective gene, unlike females, who could be carriers.
Maybe Lambile and Scar were littermates? (or their mothers were closely related...) Did they get one of the afflicted x-linked copies from their mother? I would closely watch the future male offspring from their natal pride, to see if their younger males will waste away as adults, too. If not, it could be passed from father to son, instead.
If it's genetic, this is all as a result of too much inbreeding, leading to disease susceptibility.
I'm very curious as to what ails some of the poor males, and a fewer number of the females.
Could be simply that they consumed the lungs of a buffalo with TB. It doesn't affect the females as much as they get bullied from the kills whenever the males are present and so aren't eating from the same bodily locations. The males are eating the organs and the females are eating the rump, legs etc
Even if it's TB, there is a clear genetic susceptibility to getting chronic TB and wasting away prematurely, compared to other male lions. The ones in question here are from the same pride and presumably sired by the same male. It stands to reason that some are speculating a genetic component. Their immune systems are clearly not as primed to deal with the disease even at a young age.
(02-15-2022, 05:19 AM)Cath2020 Wrote: However, Siz. survived to about 9-10 years of age, and wasn't as severely affected by TB (or whatever else he had, maybe just a severe injury from a buffalo hunt
Sizanani died from that "hip/black dot" disease. His whole hip was eaten out to the bone on last photos.
