We have had some amazing sightings of our three new lion cubs playing on the open plains. It is sad to say that two of the three have not survived – they were attacked by an older male lion that came into their territory.

Needless to say, the surviving cub has sustained some injuries, but he is a little fighter. Seeing him in our morning game drive was great – regardless of his injuries, he was still playing with his mother and his two older sisters.

When male lions kill cubs that are not their own, it is known as infanticide. They do this in order to get the female to mate after a few weeks (when their cubs die, they come into oestrus again), thereby insuring that his evolutionary fitness will prevail.

It is a cruel reality here in the African bush, but it is also a way of balancing nature.

Clive – Kapama River Lodge
04/07/2013