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@Tr1x24 when? Do you have the report? Because I remember the first time they met, it was stated they tolerated the subs, mated with the adult female and only chased the male sub.
(04-29-2024, 11:09 PM)Ttimemarti Wrote: wait a minute so amber eyes two daughters are not amber eyes two daughters only 1 is and the other is chelas daughter
Idk who is who's daughters, but 2 young females are not same age.
The two middle daughters are litter mates. Daughters of AE.
(04-29-2024, 10:45 PM)NLAL11 Wrote: Amber Eyes' daughters were born July 2019 so they'll be turning 5 in a few months.
Those 2 are not both Amber Eyes daughters, as 1 female is ~ half a year younger.
I think younger female should be Chelas daughter.
Chela has no daughters in the Pride.
- The two living Birmingham are daughter of RN and PE.
- Two 2019 females are AE daughters
- 2021 are 4 females and 1 Male.
The images of the one Amber Eye daughter that is said to have been raised by Chela crushed my soul today.
Chela raised ALL the 2019 litters almost exclusively after both RN/AE broke away with PCMs. She initially had PE but she became injured and declined until her death. Chela became the de facto leader of the sub adult group. Occasionally they would join together but the Birmingham daughters didn’t like to have the 2019 litters around too long.
(04-29-2024, 11:56 PM)Mapokser Wrote: @Tr1x24 when? Do you have the report? Because I remember the first time they met, it was stated they tolerated the subs, mated with the adult female and only chased the male sub.
Oh boy... I do think this is the notch ear female daughter of Amber Eyes and the one that Chela raised that found K4. They are still way too close to the PCM's for my liking.
I thought I’d REPOST this fitting tribute by Michael Fleetwood, admin of lions of Djuma Facebook Group who does a great job at curating sightings, photos and historical notes of several of the northern prides.
“Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.”
- Hans Christian Anderson
It is never easy to lose an individual that we have followed as a collective group of people fascinated, entertained, and educated by these most complex of big cats. However, each one we bid farewell gives us a chance to reflect, remember, and look forward, the most poetic of processes in the most tragic of times.
And so it is with the unfortunate discovery of the Nkuhuma Pride lioness Chela on Chitwa Chitwa this morning, April 28, 2024, that a chapter in the already-storied history of the Nkuhumas officially closes. It signifies a passing of the torch, leaving the lionesses born in 2016 (whom we have followed extensively and intimately since they were cubs) as the eldest females in a pride who means a great deal to us and who have suffered the losses of two of their adult lionesses in the past couple of months.
•••
Born in 2013 to one of the adult lionesses of the Nkuhumas (later the Oldest lioness or “Nana”) and sired by one of the Matimba male lions, Chela made up a litter of at least two cubs, with she and her sister being the youngest of a conglomeration of youngsters that included Amber Eyes & the Ridge-Nosed Lioness, and the Purple-Eyed Lioness and Junior (later one of the two Orpen males). The sisters and older cubs enjoyed a relatively stable upbringing, a stability that eroded considerably with the split of the Matimbas into two factions (the 4 “Northern” males and the 2 “Southern” males, Hairy Belly and Ginger) and the arrival of the five Birmingham Boys to the northern Sabi Sand in late 2014. Over the course of the next 10 months or so, the Nkuhuma Pride’s resolve was tested as the Pride suffered the losses of two adult females and Chela’s sister, leaving one mature lioness (her mother) and four sub-adult lionesses of varying ages, with Chels being just shy of three-years old by the time the Pride accepted the Birminghams at the beginning of 2016.
By some fortune, Chela had been able to avoid the fate of her sister and as she reached the onset of sexual maturity, began to consort with the Birminghams, indisputably bridging the tension and instinctual apprehension of the territorial takeover to a period of rebirth for the Pride, culminating in new cubs (including her younger half-siblings) and her first litter in August 2017. While she ultimately lost that litter (with her eight-month old daughter disappearing after a run-in with the three Avoca males on a buffalo kill on Buffelshoek), she proved more than capable of motherhood and her second litter saw a single male survive and reach maturity, ensuring her legacy continues.
But perhaps the most stoic irony of all was the role of shepherd that Chela played in her final years; after being protected from the onslaught of the Birminghams as a sub-adult, it ultimately fell to her, now the oldest of the pride, to guide a group of the Pride’s sub-adults through the turbulent waters of new males and unstable dynamics, a successful endeavor that fortified the Pride’s core group of lionesses. It is unfortunate that, despite her proven maternal instincts, her bad run of luck with rearing cubs left her with only one surviving heir. Although in retrospect, the difficult task of reaching adulthood for male cubs perhaps makes her son’s rearing that more meaningful.
As we look to see what the next few months, yea, and beyond look like for the Nkuhuma Pride, we will no doubt continue to reflect on the life and legacy of the lioness known as Chela, a lady of steel in a world of continuous fire.
Famba kahle Chela, rest easy.
Photos: Pieter Dannhauser, Chene Wales-Baillie, Marianne Rammal, Villiers Steyn, Chris de Sousa, Jane Kinnear-Smith, Anja Immelman, Anthony Goldman, Elephant Plains Game Lodge, Neil Coetzer
Thank you for posting that. I don't know why this Chela Death is affecting me. Perhaps because of all the situations going on in the North, and the recent loss of Ridge Nose, and some of the delicate balancing acts going on in Sabi right now with, the Othawas and Ridge's kids, and Kambula 4 + sister madness, and the weirdness of the BDM's and Mohawk looking rough, and the S. Avoca looking rough... it's just a weird time, but maybe more normal than I know.
(04-30-2024, 09:40 PM)T_Ferguson Wrote: Thank you for posting that. I don't know why this Chela Death is affecting me. Perhaps because of all the situations going on in the North, and the recent loss of Ridge Nose, and some of the delicate balancing acts going on in Sabi right now with, the Othawas and Ridge's kids, and Kambula 4 + sister madness, and the weirdness of the BDM's and Mohawk looking rough, and the S. Avoca looking rough... it's just a weird time, but maybe more normal than I know.
Eh, its always like this, some prides and lions struggle, others thrive, and vice versa thru the years.
Although we would like, it cant be that all lions thrive, theres always a balance, thats how nature works.
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(04-30-2024, 09:40 PM)T_Ferguson Wrote: Thank you for posting that. I don't know why this Chela Death is affecting me. Perhaps because of all the situations going on in the North, and the recent loss of Ridge Nose, and some of the delicate balancing acts going on in Sabi right now with, the Othawas and Ridge's kids, and Kambula 4 + sister madness, and the weirdness of the BDM's and Mohawk looking rough, and the S. Avoca looking rough... it's just a weird time, but maybe more normal than I know.
Eh, its always like this, some prides and lions struggle, others thrive, and vice versa thru the years.
Although we would like, it cant be that all lions thrive, theres always a balance, thats how nature works.
Oh, I certainly get that... I think it's upsetting because the void of the north created this. So many males should have stepped up and filled this void...
