Where the Lion Walked by Gareth Patterson

Author:Gareth Patterson [Patterson, Gareth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: NAT 042000 (Nature/Animals/Big Cats), NAT 011000 (Nature/Environmental Conservation &#x0026, Protection)
ISBN: 9781780361413
Publisher: Peach Publishing
Published: 2012-08-13T05:00:00+00:00

‘… we had our first glimpse of what the area is famed for — the Mara lion.’

Young male lions often develop inseparable bonds with other males in their litter or other litters within the pride, inseparable normally unless death strikes. They grow up together, learning to be lions. When they reach the age of about three and a half years, they are usually ousted from the family pride, often ferociously, and are continually rebuked by the pride males who recognise the possible threat the young males could one day represent. When they are ousted, the young males, bonded by a long close childhood within the pride, begin a nomadic existence, leading a tough life without any of the benefits derived from living within a stable territorial pride. They enter other males’ territories and are attacked, and sometimes killed. They fend for themselves without any females from whom they could abscond with a kill. The end-products of this tough existence are the potential uncrowned kings of future prides. One day the nomads, sensing a weakness within a pride, will gradually persist in residing within the sacred home range of other males. A confrontation is inevitable, and occasionally the testing young males will succeed in ousting the old resident males, thus becoming the new lords of the pride. The three males I had found were perhaps the product of such a confrontation. They were recognisable as pride males by their strong territorial calls and by the way they arrogantly scent-marked the nearby bushes, advertising to other males of their kind the claim they held over the area.

Often the first action new males take during the grudging acceptance by the lionesses of the pride is one of instinctive brutality. New males will often kill all young cubs within the pride. Infanticide is common in lion society and, although cruel in our eyes, it symbolises the continuing success of the species. By killing the cubs, they remove all traces of the genetic strain of the deposed males and within 50 days the lionesses, without cubs dependent upon them, will once again come into oestrus. Through the scent in their urine, they advertise their condition to the males who will mate with them, producing cubs which are perhaps genetically stronger and thus ensuring the continued success of the species.

The three males I watched at the waterhole were fulfilling the role dictated to pride males. They would not tolerate other males within their domain and would fight viciously to protect their territory. These lions were climbing towards the peak of their lives. Male lions have a constantly challenging existence and the majority do not live for more than eight years. In a few short years, in human terms, these three young princes would have to stand down to younger, stronger rivals and, if they have not met their deaths by this time, they will have to revert to the nomadic lives of their younger days, existing on the fringes of other males’ territories — usually a short, tough life for a lion which once enjoyed the stability of a pride.

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