SELATI PRIDE

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December 2004

SELATI PRIDE = 16

The Selati Pride has continued to operate as two units, the one comprising 3 lionesses and three youngsters, the other of two lionesses and eight youngsters. In December, there were more sightings of the former group than the latter. The movements of these lions were pretty much as would be predicted, and it is clear that they spend a good deal of their time on neighbouring property to the west of Toulon. There was a sighting of one of the lionesses (from the group of 3 females and three youngsters) mating with one of the Rollercoaster Males. One or two of the Rollercoaster Males accompanied both groups of Selati Pride members on most occasions when this pride was encountered in December.

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November 2004

SELATI PRIDE = 16
3 ADULT FEMALES
2 LIONESSES                      * 48 MONTHS
3 SUB-ADULTS                 * 23 MONTHS
3 SUB-ADULTS                 * 21 MONTHS
1 CUB                                  * 17 MONTHS
2 CUBS                                * 13 MONTHS
2 CUBS

Location: TOULON, SOUTHERN CHARLESTON

The Selati Pride continues to operate as two groups, and the fact that only five adult lionesses have been seen in recent months, suggests that there are now only five. Three lionesses and three cubs make up the one group, while two lionesses and eight cubs make up the other group. All sightings of the Selati Pride were on the western bank of the Sand River, and in most cases, the lions were not accompanied by the Rollercoaster Males. It is hoped that a clearer breakdown of the composition of the youngsters of the pride will be available in the near future.

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October 2004

SELATI PRIDE = 17 (approximately)
4 ADULT FEMALES
2 LIONESSES                                                  * 47 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 22 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 20 MONTHS
1 CUB                                                                 * 16 MONTHS
2 CUBS                                                              * 12 MONTHS
2 CUBS

Location: TOULON, SOUTHERN CHARLESTON

Sightings of the Selati Pride in October, suggested that this pride is operating mainly in two sub-groups.   Two lionesses and eight youngsters are normally together, while another three lionesses and three youngsters form the other sub-group.   One of the lionesses seems to be unaccounted for at this stage, but it is not clear which one.

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September 2004

SELATI PRIDE = 17 (approximately)
4 ADULT FEMALES
2 SUB ADULT FEMALES                             * 46 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 21 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 19 MONTHS
1 CUB                                                                 * 15 MONTHS
2 CUBS                                                              * 11 MONTHS
2 CUBS

Location: TOULON, SOUTHERN CHARLESTON

All seems to be going well with the Selati Pride, as these lions continue to spend much time on south-western Toulon.   They were also seen to the north of the Sand River on a couple of occasions.   It seems that all 11 cubs are still alive.   The pride has been somewhat split up into two units again, with two lionesses and eight cubs making up most of the sightings.   On one of the days when these 10 lions were seen, six other members were also seen, these comprising three females and three cubs.

The Rollercoaster Males were also seen to accompany the larger part of the Selati Pride on a few occasions.

Although not seen in the process of making any kills, the Selati Pride accounted for at least one wildebeest, an adult female.   Good feeding activity was seen on the morning after the kill took place.

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August 2004

SELATI PRIDE = 17 (approximately)
4 ADULT FEMALES
2 SUB ADULT FEMALES                             * 45 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 20 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 18 MONTHS
1 CUB                                                                * 14 MONTHS
2 CUBS                                                              * 10 MONTHS
2 CUBS

Location: WESTERN TOULON

There were relatively few sightings of the Selati Pride in August, but they provided some good viewing.   They were seen to kill a baby zebra as well as an adult male impala, both of these kills taking place on western Toulon.   For the first few sightings of this pride, two females and no more than six cubs were seen, but later in the month, at least 8 cubs were seen.   One or more of the Rollercoaster Males accompanied the pride on occasion.

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July 2004

SELATI PRIDE = 17 (approximately)

4 ADULT FEMALES
2 SUB ADULT FEMALES                              * 44 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 19 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 17 MONTHS
1 CUB                                                                * 13 MONTHS
2 CUBS                                                              * 9 MONTHS
2 CUBS

Location: WESTERN TOULON

The Selati Pride spent much of their time to the west of the southern part of the reserve, but the few sightings of them did reveal that there are still at least 11 cubs in the pride.   Interestingly, the three Rollercoaster Male lions were seen together and with the Selati Pride for the first time in many weeks.   The lions all seem to be doing reasonably well, and on one occasion were seen to be feeding on an adult wildebeest kill.   With many hungry youngsters in the pride, kills of this size and larger will be devoured pretty quickly.

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June 2004

The Selati Pride seen during June 2004

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May 2004

SELATI PRIDE = 18
4 ADULT FEMALES
2 SUB ADULT FEMALES                              * 42 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 17 MONTHS
4 CUBS                                                              * 15 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 11 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 7 MONTHS

Location: WESTERN TOULON

The Selati Pride was active on western Toulon throughout the course of the May game-report-period.  They still appear to be operating in at least two groups, one comprising two lionesses and the majority of the cubs and the other made up of three lionesses and three half-year-old youngsters.

The two lionesses which have so far been caring for nine of the cubs were together with all of these cubs at the beginning of the month, but, later on, were seen on two occasions with only eight of them.  The level of competition amongst these cubs must be tremendous and for only two lionesses to look after them, it must be close to a task impossible.  But they've done well so far and to have lost so few is most impressive.

Although the three Rollercoaster Males still seem well in charge of things in this area, they were seen only once with members of the Selati Pride, this towards months end when two of them and the group of three lionesses and three cubs were seen hunting impalas.  The lionesses caught one impala and the males another, altogether quite an impressive achievement.

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April 2004

SELATI PRIDE = 19
4 ADULT FEMALES
2 SUB ADULT FEMALES                              * 41 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 16 MONTHS
4 CUBS                                                              * 14 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 10 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 6 MONTHS

Location: WESTERN TOULON

There were several sightings of the Selati Pride this month, all of them including at least one of the Rollercoaster Males. Continuing from previous months' sightings, two of the lionesses still appear to be looking after 9 of the cubs, whilst the other three youngsters are being cared for by the remaining females. There were no sightings of all lions of this family together and perhaps only five of the six lionesses were accounted for.

With so many mouths to feed, the Selati Pride provided some good action this month and on one evening, three of the lionesses, accompanied by three of the cubs and one of the Split Rock Males, were seen to kill two impalas, the first one claimed by the male and the cubs and the second, killed much later and after several other near-misses, by the lionesses.

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March 2004

SELATI PRIDE = 19
4 ADULT FEMALES
2 SUB ADULT FEMALES                              * 40 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 15 MONTHS
4 CUBS                                                              * 13 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 9 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 5 MONTHS

Location: WESTERN TOULON

The Selati Pride was particularly active this month on western Toulon and sightings gave a clear idea of just what the composition of the pride is.  As suspected, there appear to be six lionesses, two youngsters and four adults and, between them, 12 cubs. The breakdown of the cubs' ages isn't well detailed, but they certainly include a great variety, from less than half-a-year to well over one year of age.

One of the surprising aspects of just how this large family of lions works is how little time the adults seem to spend with one another.  Two of the lionesses appear to do the bulk of the work and are almost always the only ones with nine of the cubs, whilst the other three youngsters are cared for by the other lions.

So far, food has been plentiful enough to allow all to survive, but it'll come as a great surprise if some of the younger cubs don't die of hunger, particularly when the older cubs get much bigger and demand more and more food.  There is little sharing of resources in a lion family and the strongest lion usually wins.  And, since the smallest cubs wouldn't be the strongest, they'd be first to suffer.

The fathers of the cubs, the three Rollercoaster Males, remain active and were frequently seen with the Selati Pride over March.  This could be both good and bad, of course; when around, the male lions make it that much more difficult for foreign males to come in, take over and kill the cubs.  On the other hand, however, when the male lions are constantly present, they'll take much of whatever is killed, in so doing denying the cubs valuable food.

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February 2004

SELATI PRIDE = 18
3 ADULT FEMALES
2 SUB ADULT FEMALES                               * 39 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 14 MONTHS
4 CUBS                                                              * 12 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 8 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                              * 4 MONTHS

Location: WESTERN TOULON

The situation with the Selati Pride remains confusing, with no clear idea as to exactly how many lionesses and cubs there are within the pride. The largest gathering of cubs observed was when 9 of them were seen with two of the lionesses.  These 9 probably came from four different litters and had been eating a Wildebeest killed by the two adult females.

The Selati Pride seems to have a strange cub-raising system where two of the lionesses in particular do a huge amount of work for the youngsters and appear to selflessly feed all, with little, if any, distinction for those which may or may not be their specific cubs. At the time that these two lionesses were with the 9 cubs, four other lionesses, at least one of which was lactating, were found not far from them, but clearly unaware of their presence.  At the time it was thought that they too were members of the Selati Pride, but, if they were, then the numbers wouldn't tally with what the current understanding of pride-makeup is. But, since little is known of the dynamics of the pride, perhaps there are indeed 6 lionesses in the group.  When the Rollercoaster Males assumed command of the area and the pride a couple of years ago, the Selati Pride comprised five adult lionesses and two sub adults.  For some time after the take-over by the Rollercoaster Males, little was seen of the Selati Pride lionesses.  Some months ago, reports from the west of Mala Mala indicated that one of them had been killed by a buffalo and that her cubs had been taken over by the other lionesses.  So, perhaps there are indeed six lionesses in the group, the two with the 9 cubs and the four found not far from them. 

Of course what is really needed is for there to be more frequent sightings of these lions and more sightings of many of them together.  One of the better sightings involving the Selati Pride lionesses this month was when three of them were seen sharing a zebra kill with two of the Rollercoaster Males.  Whilst these lions were busy squabbling over the kill, one of the Charleston Pride lionesses approached, but was immediately chased away by the Selati Pride females.

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January 2004