African Wildlife & Environment Issue 85

WILDLIFE CHRONICLES

A large group of young lines (not the ones referred to in the article) (Photograph: Helena Atkinson)

generations. They had therefore probably killed the females’ previous offspring but strangely, had spared the disfigured young male, perhaps considering him innocuous and presenting no potential threat to them. Once I had the collars on them, the pride soon became habituated to my vehicle and my presence and were thereafter easily approachable. About a month after this, the pride accepted another six nomadic females into their group. Five of these were young females just achieving adulthood while the sixth was already an adult. I knew these lions as they had originated from another of my collared prides a few kilometres to the west. I was aware that they were no longer with their natal pride but had no idea where they had gone. These five young females had reached the stage in their lives when young lions might leave their natal pride and adopt a nomadic lifestyle. Pride adults tend to become less tolerant of both male and female sub adults and this is probably the reason they leave. I had

observed the process in two different prides but saw no serious aggression which suggested that they had not been evicted or ‘kicked out’. My impressions were that their departure was a voluntary move which they took upon themselves. Such youngsters then follow a nomadic lifestyle, searching for an opportunity to establish themselves in another pride. Sometimes, as in this case, an older female will go with them. She was almost certainly the mother of some of them, and this might also be an evolutionary strategy by lionesses to help ensure that their youngsters survive to promote their genes into future generations. This group of six nomads had found their new pride and managed to establish themselves. With their acceptance into the ‘Confluence Pride’, it then was composed of the two adult males, ten adult females and ‘Rubbish’. All or most of these ten females subsequently produced cubs and a year and a half later, the pride had swelled to the two adult males, ten adult females, ‘Rubbish’ who was about three years old, 13 large

cubs of about 18 months old, ten cubs of six months, one cub of five months and four of only three months, giving a total of 41! Written records suggest that is almost certainly the largest pride ever recorded! The next largest naturally-occurring pride appears to be the

34 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 85 (2024)