The 2022 Africa Journals, Chapter 29: The Day of the Big Cats, PT. 2 of A Great Day

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Chapter 29:  

 The Day of the Big Cats

Part 2 of a Great Day for Everything

If you kick a lion when it is down, God help you when it gets up.

--Matshona Dhilwayo

Despite the hundreds of wild lions I've seen, I have never been able to wrap my mind around just how huge they are.   Looking at them in the distance and guessing their size, say 50 to 100 feet, doesn't do them justice.

Looking at them when they walk right past your vehicle, almost close enough to touch,  then you realize the immensity of their bulk.

Imagine a 4'X8' sheet of plywood.   Now, put a male lion in front of the plywood.    He would cover it and his  tail would extend. beyond the edge of the plywood.   Males stand 3.5 to 4 ft. at the shoulder and ten feet long.    They weigh up to 600 lbs.   Females are a bit shorter and weigh less.

I'll start today with a lion in love.   

He moves closer to us.

And finds a spot to lie down close to his lady love.

We wait.   They could begin mating at any moment.   A lioness usually mates with a lion of her own pride.   At first, they can mate every few minutes, as much as 50 times in 24 hours.   This frequency will slowly diminish over the  days.

You can see signs of "affection" by the male.   He will lick the female's shoulder and lick her neck and then appear to bite her neck during the act.   As for the female, she doesn't seem to enjoy it much, often snarling at the male.   The male's penis has spines and they are thought to cause small injuries to the female during copulation that might make fertilization of eggs and their adherence more probable.

During the days of this mating ritual, neither of them will hunt or eat.

 

"I need a nap."

"Oh, she's moving!   Can this be the moment?"

"Not according to her snarl."

"I better keep my distance."

"But WOW does she smell good!"

This showing of the teeth and curling of the lips and nose is called the Flehman response.   It is characteristic of male of many species in reaction to the smell of sex hormones in the urine of females.

While lover boy is enjoying his Flehman response, the lioness moves away and finds some peace.

And then, the two of them wander off downhill and we go in search of more cats and their activities.

We come upon a pride of sleepy lions and stop to watch them for a while.   Other than rolling over, or a cub sitting up to look at the visitors, nothing much seems to be happening.

But what's this?   The young male seems to be on hunt alert.

A warthog sow chose an unlucky time to lead her piglets across the savannah near the lions.

It is over in the blink of an eye.

The warthog looks back at her piglet in the jaws of a lioness.

And the other lions  decide they want to share in the prize.

Finally she escapes with her catch.

Next up, my favorite cat--the beautiful, streamline, and oh-so-endangered cheetah.   We find this Mum and her three cubs having a peaceful nap.

The third cub is out of the frame.

Hmmm...    Something caught their attention.

AH, there are some Thompson's gazelle on the other side of our vehicles.

One cub goes to investigate.

And uses one of the vehicles to shield himself from the gazelle.    This is a perfect example of how the animals have become not only habituated to the vehicles, but have learned how to use them for their own benefit.

This cub has moved up also and is peering under the vehicles to watch the gazelles.

 

From here we move on as the cats go back to sleep.

It's time to be heading back to camp.    For one last treat on this amazing morning, the guides find a leopard and her son.   She had brought down a Thompson's gazelle.

Junior is playing with his food now that his belly is full.    Most of his "play" actions simulate hunting.

This leopard is named Nalang'u.   We will be seeing much more of these two.

***

Egrets

Stopping to chat with the rangers

Gray crowned crane:

Dark blue pansy butterfly.