Tanda Tula Blog
Lions on a Buffalo kill!
Two of our expert rangers, Foreman and Civilized, were once again in the right place at the right time when a couple of days ago, they luckily witnessed the Machaton Pride take down a young buffalo calf! The calf appeared to be just over a year old, so was not a significantly big carcass, when shared between 12 lions.
My guests and I arrived just after the pride had begun to feed, and were greeted at the scene with loud snarls and deep growls as they got stuck into the carcass. When feeding, there is absolutely no love lost between individual pride members and they will claw, bite and scratch for every morsel they can get. If they don’t they will starve, so from a young age cubs are ingrained with the instinct to fight for every meal, from suckling on mom to feeding on a carcass.
Cubs are often badly injured by bigger lions during these clashes, sometimes fatally. This is another reason for the high mortality rate in young cubs. I managed to get some great shots of the pride displaying the above behaviour and added a short description of how a cub goes about attaining a meal.
No 1. Wrestle your way into position. And yes, there is a buffalo calf below all those lions!
No 2. Once in position, whack your aunt for getting too greedy.
No 3. Your grandmother sees this and gives you the beady eye!
No 4. You try and share with her, and almost bites your paw off.
No 5. You eventually find a gap and pull for all your worth.
No 6. And feed as quickly as you can.
No 7. Then, once you have had your fill, you leave some for your little brother.
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