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Other male lion coalitions from Masai Mara
Other male lion coalitions from Masai Mara
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Other male lion coalitions from Masai Mara
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 (05-20-2018, 09:21 AM)Gamiz Wrote: From Lion lovers I found this to be a great post which gave a lot of insight into the vets mind when treating Lipstick .... I think its great that Kenya has a vet service which responds to animals in need .... im sure its a case by case decision and not exclusive to lions ... I wish KNP / Sabi Sands did this ... especially with some of the subs that could be saved ... specifically the females ... they could be put in a holding land area together so they bond ... get them healthy and then release them in parks which are trying to rebuild lost lion populations ... it would create genetic diversity, help local economies thru tourism and rebuild lion numbers .... kind of like what they did in Rwanda at Akagera Natl Park. .... Getting back to Lipstick ... RIP King ... I enjoyed your videos and Im glad you were given treatment for your pain ... he probably did a lot to bring attention to Lions and probably did more to save them just by having his beautiful mug all over the internet ... just my two pence 
Credits to Federico Veronesi.
Portrait of Lipstick, January 2018 - One of the Mara's most magnificent males, he died last night of old age. In this image he still looks strong and powerful, his eyes look towards the future, to a new day tomorrow, a new sun to greet with his mighty roars, maybe to a new life.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Peter Rettig.
"There was a Male Lion in Africa ..." - Tribute to Lipstick In the early hours of the 19th of May guides found the lifeless body of a legendary Male Lion in the Maasai Mara National Reserve – Lipstick has passed away. No wounds, no fights, no conflicts with the local herders. Lipstick died peacefully at the age of 13-14 years, after a long and successful life as a Pride Male of 5 different Lion Prides over the years, as a member of the once four strong 4 KM Coalition and as the partner of Blackie, the 2nd surviving Male of this coalition by late 2013. Lipstick lived the life of a true free and wild Male Lion. The Maasai Mara has lost another Legend. He will be missed and never forgotten! Many feared for this message to emerge for several weeks already. Lipstick had lost condition over the last months following an injury he sustained beginning of February on his right front leg, probably sustained during a fight with other Male Lions or during a hunt of large prey. While there was no visible wound he limped around badly … and never recovered. The vets looked after him and concluded on a muscle fracture or a sprain/fracture of his right shoulder being the reason for his limp, there was little they could do for him. Lipstick struggled to keep up with the Pride and only reached the kill sites when most of the meat was already consumed by the 15 members strong Topi Plains Pride and his partner Blackie. During the rainy season the Pride has to move a lot in search of prey and Lipstick lost weight and power by the day. At the end he did not show up on the kills of the Pride anymore. He had gotten too weak and obviously at some point he just lay down to take the last breath while overlooking his territory where he was happy for the last almost 3 years. Lipstick was a role model of a Male Lion, proud, confident, determined, big and strong, with a huge dark mane. He has had countless confrontations and fights with other Males. He lost 4 Lions Prides to other Coalitions while being outnumbered only to move on taking over a different Pride. He sired countless cubs with many of them still being alive and several of them being breeding females and ruling males today. He was an amazing Male and his legacy will live on! The first reports emerged in the year 2009 about a new coalition of 4 males sneaking around in the Mara Triangle. Sarah & Andy Skinner, both first class photographers spending a lot of time in the Triangle following the dynamics of the resident Lions Prides, were the ones who took record of the early days of this coalition. They named them the “4 KM” Coalition because the first times they saw them was around the 4 KM Sign towards Mara Serena Lodge and one of the 4 Males they named Lipstick because of his distinctive black marking just down his lower lip. The Skinners estimated the 4 KM Males being 5-6 years old when they tried to take over their first Pride of Lions in 2010. When the 4 KM Males arrived there was another legendary Coalition ruling over the northern parts of the Mara Triangle, no other than the 6 Notches. They had taken over the Mugoro Pride and the Serena Pride. Nobody witnessed what happened, but these 2 Coalitions had several confrontations for sure. When the dust settled down both Coalitions had lost one member. The 4 KM Males were down to 3 and the Notches had lost their brother named “Long”. The Notches had left the Triangle following the Serena Pride Lionesses who had settled down on the other side of the Mara River in an area called Maternity and who became the Rekero Pride and the Rekero Breakaway Pride in the years to come. The 4 KM Males stayed in the Mara Triangle and by beginning of 2011 they had killed the 9 Mugoro Pride cubs sired by the Notches. They started breeding with the 4 Mugoro Girls and several cubs were born. A year later two things changed the dynamics in the northern Triangle. The 4 KM Males got wind that the Paradise Pride was left without Males and Lipstick & Blackie followed them on the other side of the Mara River. The 3rd Male stayed with the Mugoro Pride most of his time and in the course of 2013 he vanished, most likely killed by the 4 Oloololo Males who had started be expand their territory further south. Lipstick & Blackie never returned into the Triangle. Lipstick & Blackie sired several cubs with the Paradise Pride and the 4 Females who were known as the Paradise Breakaway Pride back in 2013. They also had taken over the Rekero Breakaway Pride roaming the Pump House and the Chinese Hill areas after the Notches had left them for good. But in the back half of 2013 the dynamics changed again. The 4 Musketeers, Pride Males of the Marsh Pride, had started their excursions onto the Paradise Plains. Lipstick & Blackie fought teeth & claws, lost both of their Prides to the Musketeers beginning of 2014, but were able to claim the Rekero Breakaway Pride back and to take over the Rekero Pride. Another year later, beginning of 2015, they were the proud fathers of 13 youngsters of the Rekero Pride, when the 4 Musketeers challenged them again. There were several confrontations and in November 2015 three of the Musketeers cornered Blackie and injured him badly. At some point Lipstick & Blackie left the Rekero Pride and the Rekero Breakaway Pride for good, while they had started bonding with the Topi Plains Females and took over this Pride. Lipstick and his coalition partners have successfully defended their territories and Prides long enough so their offspring made it to adulthood. At least 2 daughters are breeding females of the Mugoro Pride today and 2 of their sons might well be Karibu & Rafiki, the Pride Males of the Cheli Pride in the Mara North Conservancy. At least 2 daughters are integral part of the Paradise Pride today and 2 of their sons, Maridadi & Kaka, are the proud Pride Males of the Fig Tree Pride and the Porini Pride. At least 2 Young Females and 1 Young Male of the Rekero Pride are still alive and 1 Female and 3 Males of the Rekero Breakaway Pride made it to adulthood. Over the last almost 3 years Lipstick & Blackie were the successful Pride Males of the Topi Plains Pride. They sired many cubs and 14 youngsters are still alive and well, with 4 of them already being independent (Mandevu, Ashalina and the 2 Mdomo Boys). Lipstick’s legacy will live on. Rest in peace Big Boy, you did very well!  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Ale Olivieri.
Scar of the Maasai Mara, a privilege.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Jay Kang'e.
Blackie just like all of us will sure miss his brother Lipstick who together they ruled, roared and caused all sorts of problems and conquered together. Their bond was strong. Wishing Blackie all the best!  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
 (03-31-2017, 09:11 PM)Tshokwane Wrote: Credits to Kiriama George. @Pantherinae These are some good ones of the big boy empty.  (05-22-2018, 10:39 PM)Pckts Wrote:(03-31-2017, 09:11 PM)Tshokwane Wrote: Credits to Kiriama George. Yes that is actually a great find! As he almost always seems full haha.. his head has always impressed me and on a empty belly its looking even bigger!
if you compare earless and his younger brothers that was sired by notch boys has all the wide face that the rongai pride and the notch family characteristics all have, but earless has his father huge size w/ exceptions of the mane! but I think his size had to do with how long he stayed with his natal pride and was able to feed regularly. he didn't get driven out until his brothers the notch boys came back to rongai and chase him out.
The jewels of Mara Triangle. During your game drive, lion grunting and humming compounds the chilly nights around your camp.(photo by A.Bett).
Scarface  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Jay Kang'e.
Kaka and Maridadi who are Lipstick and Blackie's sons and the pride males of the fig tree pride. They spent the day out of their domain in lorparpit and orbanoti's territory and chased one of the younger male up the tree. Will lorparpit and orbanoti fight them out? Well, only time will tell!  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to The Greatest Maasai Mara.
“The large male of the sausage tree pride tries to subdue a lone buffalo bull as the pride looks on.” - ‘Sausage or Beef’ taken by Tristan Dicks whilst staying at Safarilive in aid of The Mara Elephant Project.  *This image is copyright of its original author
From Mara predator project
Trouble lurks around a place called Eor inside Mara Naboisho Conservancy. Two young males killed a large cub belonging to the Moniko pride, and we were able to ID the males as dispersing Offbeat subs. These two males were part of a group of four Offbeat guys who dispersed together, and all four were last seen in the Reserve by Governors Camp by our team, and so we wonder where the missing two are. A month ago, an adult Moniko female was killed in the same area, also by two males, which were not caught on camera, but it is very likely that these two males were responsible as well. The four Rekero males, who have cubs with all four Naboisho prides, will have no trouble evicting these much younger lions, if or when they find out what's happening.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Peter Rettig.
Some thoughts on Blackie and the current situation of the Topi Plains Pride After almost 3 years of success and stability the situation for the Topi Plains Pride has changed significantly. The dynamics of the last 12 months played out to the disadvantage of this Pride. Why? Their aging Pride Males, Lipstick & Blackie, made a bold move to take over the Double Crossing Area and the Enkoyonai Pride in the first half of 2017, the Topi Plains Pride followed them and this was the chance to establish themselves in a much better territory than the Topi Plains are. But Lipstick & Blackie finally lost the competition against two other aging males, Lolparpit & Olbarnoti. These two old warriors took over the Enkoyonai Pride and the entire Double Crossing Area by end of last year. The Enkoyonai Pride consists of 8-9 adult females and outnumbers the 5 Topi Plains Pride Females who got pushed back onto their old territory. Esp. during the lean season after the long rains the areas adjacent to the Topi Plains and the Double Crossing Areas are still relatively rich of prey. The consequence is that these two competing Prides come into conflict with each other with the smaller Topi Plains Pride being the ones who have to manoeuvre around to avoid physical conflicts and to keep their 10 youngsters safe. After the death of Lipstick the remaining Pride Male of the Topi Plains Pride, Blackie, sees himself being outnumbered and therefore he does not defend his Pride and their kills. That makes life for the Topi Plains Pride more complicated as the 2 Enkoyonai Males, Lolparpit & Olbarnoti, also go for the kills the Topi Pride has made and chase them off. What the Topi Pride did is to go down to the Milima Tatu/Ngorbop area to hunt at night and to move back onto the Topi Plains and the north eastern fringes of Rhino Ridge latest after sunset. But then the next challenge emerged! Not only the 6 Bila Shaka Males also sneak around in all the mentioned areas in search for prey and females, but also several groups of nomadic males. Ironically esp. 2 Nomadic Males forced the Topi Females to avoid their core territory while we were there in the first weeks of June, the 2 Autum Boys, offspring of the Topi Plains Pride. They have temporarily settled on the Topi Plains and go out hunting at night in the very same areas the Topi Plains Pride and the Enkoyonai Pride roam in search for food. While the 2 Autum Boys did not behave aggressively from what we have observed, the Topi Females do not trust them. Blackie did not try to chase them off, it seems he has lost confidence and keeps low profile. During our second week we have been searching for the Topi Plains Pride for several hours every day. Sometimes we found them lying in the long grass around Milima Tatu and the Ngorbop close to the new Ranger Post, all very close to the Cattle Belt. We never saw all 15 members together again and they always seemed to be highly alerted. Blackie never showed himself again. Yesterday he was seen in the Mara North Conservancy in the Offbeat Area. This is just opposite of the Ngorbop hence beyond the Cattle Belt. So Blackie has moved out the Danger Zone only to enter another one with the Offbeat Pride having 4 strong Pride Males. There also is word that an old Male and some younger females have tried to break into bomas in this area, very concerning. It might well be that Blackie and some youngsters of the Topi Plains Pride are forced to prey upon Livestock while the Adult Females deal with the intruding Males and try keeping the youngest cubs away from danger. One can only hope that the incoming migration will ease the situation. Dangerous times for the Topi Plains Pride! Picture: Blackie close to Milima Tatu on the 8th of June, moving off in the opposite direction of where the Topi Plains Pride was walking  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Peter Rettig.
A picture with symbolic character Blackie moving away alone and into the opposite direction of the Topi Plains Prides location. He passes a herd of Elephants who did not take notice of him. A king leaves his kingdom ... forever? Maasai Mara June 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author
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