LION
(Panthera leo)
Swahili: SIMBA
The largest African carnivore, this cat has a uniform tawny/sandy brown coat with a dark-tipped tail. Only males have long tawny, red-brown or black manes that first become visible at 2 years.
Ecology and Behavior |
Folklore |
Wild Tales |
Distribution: Formerly most of Africa and the Middle East to India but now mostly in parks and reserves.
Habitat: Variety of habitat except for most extensive forests and driest deserts.
Food: Anything from mice to elephants but mainly large antelope. Individual lion can kill prey twice its own body weight, and groups can kill buffalo 4 times their weight and even bull giraffes.
Hunting Behavior: Mainly nocturnal. Use cover with great skill to stalk within 100 feet of prey, followed by short, fast charge of no more than 100 feet. Smaller prey is brought down with slap to haunch or simply dragged down with both paws. To bring down larger prey, lion rears and throws paw over shoulder or rump or jumps on back, using full weight and strength to pull victim backwards. Once prey is down, lion bites back of neck of smaller prey or suffocates by biting nose or throat of larger prey.
Most hunting (85 to 90%) is done by females and they often hunt together in a cooperative effort, but males, though slower, are competent killers as well. In communal hunts, lions usually move on broad front, encircling and trapping prey. Males typically trail behind and rush in to claim share when prey is caught. Individual lions kill smaller prey while larger animals, such as zebra, buffalo and giraffe are taken by groups or males. Lions hunting together are far more successful than solitary hunters. Scavenge kills from other predators whenever possible rather than hunt.
Social Behavior: Gregarious, matriarchal, communal care, male coalitions, territorial. Only truly social cat, living in matriarchal family groups (prides) of 2 to 40. A typical pride is composed of 5 related females, 2 males and their young and subadult offspring. There is a reproductive advantage in forming male coalitions, so even unrelated males will band together in groups of 2 to 6. Mating is first-come, first-serve among coalition males.
Both sexes are territorial and defend part of range currently being used from outsiders of same sex. Males spend a lot of time patrolling and urine-marking territories. Related female bonds within pride often last for life and are foundation of lion society, but male membership in pride seldom lasts more than 2 to 4 years, when they are ousted by stronger males. Pride members are usually scattered singly or in small groups that change from day to day as individuals come and go. Lions spend about 20 hours a day resting. Both sexes use roaring that can be heard up to 5 miles away to communicate with pride members and to discourage intruders. Reunions are marked by affectionate rubbing, licking and vocalizations in a greeting ceremony.
Reproduction: After gestation of about 110 days, 1 to 6 cubs (average of 2 to 3) are born in a litter. Mother keeps cubs hidden from rest of pride for first month or so, and at 4 to 8 weeks, starts leading cubs to kills. Synchronized births are common within a pride where females then care for and suckle cubs communally. Cubs are weaned at 7 to 9 months and are able to fend for themselves at 16 to 18 months. Males are forced to leave pride at 2 to 3 years, usually staying together in a coalition while females remain in natal pride for life unless females numbers are too high and they are forced to emigrate. Males reach sexual maturity at 5 years and females from 3 ½ to 5 years.
Status: Second most endangered big African cat after cheetah. With increase in livestock grazing and farming, lions have been eliminated in north and southern Africa and are rapidly being exterminated across tropical Africa. Rarely tolerated outside protected areas, they will soon only survive in parks and reserves.
Adaptations: The male lion’s mane acts as an imposing ‘enlargement’ of its head and allows him to intimidate both females and other male lions.
Males commit infanticide of small cubs when taking over a new pride to ensure they are not looking after another male’s offspring and to free females to mate with them.
Head/Body Length: 5 ½ - 8 ft. (male) 5 - 6 ¼ ft. (female)
Tail Length: 2 - 3 ft.
Shoulder Height: 4 ft. (male) 2 - 3 ft. (female)
Weight: 332 - 575 lbs. (male) 265 - 402 lbs. (female)
Unity among the cattle makes the lion lie down hungry.
- African proverb
A brave man is always frightened three times by a lion: when he first sees his tracks, when he first hears him roar and when he first confronts him.
- African proverb
The lion which moves silently is the one that eats meat.
- African proverb
When Lion Could Fly
LION, it is said, once used to fly, and at that time nothing could live before him. As he was unwilling that the bones of what he caught should be broken into pieces, he made a pair of White Crows watch the bones, leaving them behind at the boma whilst he went a-hunting. But one day Great Frog came there, broke the bones in pieces, and said, "Why can men and animals live no longer?" And he added these words, "When he comes, tell him that I live at yonder pool; if he wishes to see me, he must come there."
Lion, lying in wait (for game), wanted to fly up, but found he could not fly. Then he got angry, thinking that at the boma something was wrong, and returned home. When he arrived, he asked, "What have you done that I cannot fly?" Then they answered and said, "Some one came here, broke the bones into pieces, and said, 'If he wants me, he may look for me at yonder pool!"' Lion went, and arrived while Frog was sitting at the water's edge, and he tried to creep stealthily upon him. When he was about to get hold of him, Frog said, "Ho!" and, diving, went to the other side of the pool and sat there. Lion pursued him, but as he could not catch him, he returned home.
From that day, it is said, Lion walked on his feet, and also began to creep upon (big game). The White Crows became entirely dumb since the day that they said, "Nothing can be said of that matter."
The Lion, The Jackal, And The Man
IT so happened one day that Lion and Jackal came together to converse on affairs of land and state. Jackal, let me say, was the most important adviser to the king of the forest, and after they had spoken about these matters for quite a while, the conversation took a more personal turn.
Lion began to boast and talk big about his strength. Jackal had, perhaps, given him cause for it, because by nature he was a flatterer. But now that Lion began to assume so many airs, said he, "See here, Lion, I will show you an animal that is still more powerful than you are."
They walked along, Jackal leading the way, and met first a little boy.
"Is this the strong man?" asked Lion. "No," answered Jackal, "he must still become a man, O king."
After a while they found an old man walking with bowed head and supporting his bent figure with a stick.
"Is this the wonderful strong man?" asked Lion. "Not yet, O king," was Jackal's answer, "he has been a man."
Continuing their walk a short distance farther, they came across a young hunter, in the prime of youth, and accompanied by some of his dogs.
"There you have him now, O king," said Jackal. "Pit your strength against his, and if you win, then truly you are the strength of the earth."
Then Jackal made tracks to one side toward a little rocky kopje from which he would be able to see the meeting. Growling, growling, Lion strode forward to meet the man, but when he came close, the dogs beset him. He, however, paid little attention to the dogs, and pushed and separated them on all sides with a few sweeps of his front paws. They howled aloud, beating a hasty retreat toward the man.
Thereupon the man fired a charge of shot, biting him behind the shoulder, but even to this Lion paid but little attention. Thereupon the hunter pulled out his steel knife, and gave him a few good jabs. Lion retreated, followed by the flying bullets of the hunter.
"Well, are you strongest now?" was Jackal's first question when Lion arrived at his side.
First Lions on Sosian
We saw our first lions on Sosian when we found a freshly killed eland cow near Acacia Dam about five minutes from our house. At first we thought poachers had killed the eland because pieces of flesh had been neatly sliced off the hindquarters, but after closer examination we realized that lions had done the job. People illegally passing through Sosian probably took the opportunity to grab some fresh eland meat from the carcass, just as our early ancestors did.
We decided to return to the kill that night and at 7:00, arrived to find that the eland had been dragged away from the road toward the bush. We could see many pairs of white shiny eyes in the dark, so decided to turn off the headlights and climb on top of the Land Rover to sit for a while. Soon we heard a noise and turned on the spotlight, expecting to see hyenas at the kill, but were startled to see a young male lion dragging the carcass further into the bush. The male kept his eyes on us as he continued to drag the eland and then to start eating it, but the two young female lions behind him were very wary of us and crouched low in the grass with just their ears and piercing yellow eyes visible.
The hyenas continued to pace in the background, waiting for their turn at the carcass. Every now and then, the silence was broken by some nervous giggling or a whooping call. After 30 minutes or so, we drove on a narrow road behind the kill and saw a lot more hyenas moving about. What was amazing was the number of tiny dikdik, their bright green eyes everywhere, calmly feeding among all those hyenas!
These lions and hyenas were extremely wild and it was thrilling but also a little nerve-wracking to watch them glaring at us from the grass and bushes. If we had known the lions were there, we would never have climbed on top of the Land Rover.
Collaring Bella
There are several ways you can capture a lion and fit a radio collar on it. You can set a trap with bait in a way that forces a lion to walk into a foot snare to get to the meat. Once the lion’s leg is secured, one can move in and dart it. You can try calling lions in by playing a thoroughly obnoxious recording of a baby buffalo in distress and when the lions are close enough, dart one with a gun. Finally, you can drag a big piece of meat, preferably part of the carcass of a large animal, around until a lion comes close enough to the vehicle to be darted.
Alayne Mathieson and her assistant Stephen from the Laikipia Predator Project had come to our house on a Friday afternoon and over the next two nights, had used the first two methods to try and collar a Sosian lion without success. Sunday morning we sat around the verandah table eating breakfast and wondered if it was worth one final try before Alayne and Stephen headed back to the Mpala Research Centre where their project is based. I was feeling thoroughly pessimistic about our chances of collaring a Sosian lion but Alayne refused to give up. Our askari Leringanto had heard lions roaring to the north during the night and took Alayne and Stephen up to track them. When they returned, Alayne said, “I think we’ve found lions.” My pulse quickened and I tried to suppress my excitement, certain we’d be disappointed again. This was our last chance, at least this time. Alayne and Stephen grabbed their equipment and took off again.
We followed over an hour later, and when we spotted the truck about 400 metres off the road, Mike called Alayne on the radio. She was breaking up badly but we caught the words, “We’re with the lions now.” As we pulled up along side the Toyota, Alayne whispered out the window to grab our things and join them in the truck. As we climbed in the back seat, Alayne told us what had happened.
With her radio-tracking equipment, she had picked up a strong signal from LM-38, a big collared male named Romulus. They decided to try the third capture method and tied the well-worn zebra rump with a rope to the back of the truck. Slowly they drove into the bushes where the signal was coming from to test the lion’s response. Suddenly Romulus rushed out of the bushes and pounced on the zebra, refusing to let go and actually pulling the Toyota backwards. Stephen put the truck in low gear and eventually pulled away, wrestling the zebra rump from Romulus’ big claws. They wanted to collar his companion, a shy female, before he ate all of the zebra. They had just retreated from the bushes when we saw them. Our timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
We drove slowly back into the thick bush and I craned my neck out the window trying to see any lions. There he was, sitting at the edge of a bush and watching us, one of the biggest lions I have ever seen with a massive mane that spread over his shoulders and between his front legs. Adding to his rather rakish look, a thick streak of black hair swept back from his forehead and blended into his dark brown mane as though he had been to the hairdresser for highlights. He was obviously used to vehicles but his companion refused to leave the safety of the bushes. We sat for several hours, patiently waiting for the lioness to get up enough courage to come out and approach the meat. Unfortunately both lions had fairly full stomachs, so were in no hurry to eat more.
What finally triggered the action was the appearance of a brave little black-backed jackal that circled the scene for a while until it finally got enough nerve to dart in and grab some meat off the zebra rump. Immediately Romulus came from the bushes and charged the jackal, who ran off. It wasn’t much of a charge from a very heavy lion, just a warning to stay away from the meat. Romulus flopped down next to the zebra to guard it and watch us at the same time. As we sat there with the windows open, I barely moved a muscle despite the rush of adrenalin I was feeling and found myself holding my breath, but he was completely relaxed and even closed his eyes for a quick nap several times. The plucky jackal was not about to give up and darted in again to snatch more meat as Romulus napped. The lion was not happy and his tail twitched rapidly back and forth before he charged the jackal again. Finally he’d had enough and began eating the zebra himself. In frustration he picked it up in his mouth and tried to drag it toward the bushes, away from us and the jackal. As he pulled the rope taut, the truck with the four of us inside rocked back and forth. It was an impressive display of strength that had us nervously giggling.
As the sun set, the lioness slowly came out of the thicket she’d been hiding in and cautiously approached the zebra and started to eat. She was a huge lioness. Frustratingly Alayne wasn’t able to get the right angle for a shot at the rump or shoulder after Romulus had dragged the zebra toward the bushes. We all tried to make noises to scare her into walking away so Alayne could get a better shot. It was getting dark quickly and soon it would be too late to get a shot off safely. In a desperate last attempt, Stephen moved the truck and dragged the zebra back out into the open. The lioness darted into the bushes and we thought we had lost our last chance to dart her, but greed for more meat overcame her nervousness and she came back to the zebra. Alayne took aim, I held my breath and suddenly there was a loud pop from the gun. The lioness growled and jumped in the air, then ran off into the bushes. The jackal darted in and started bolting down meat, ever the opportunist taking advantage of the situation. Lazy Romulus, lying about ten metres away, merely lifted his head in surprise but didn’t move.
We waited ten minutes and then drove a short distance to where the lioness lay unconscious. While Mike and I stood up through the open roof hatch and scanned the area with torches to make sure Romulus didn’t approach, Alayne and Stephen went to work, taking measurements drawing blood, checking teeth, examining the rest of her body, and most importantly, fitting the new radio collar.
When they were finished, I came down to take photos and stroke the lioness. Even though she was unconscious, I felt myself shaking as I crouched next to her massive, powerful body. Her paws were immense and her fur softer than I expected. Best of all, she was heavily pregnant and when I rubbed her stomach, I could feel the outline of the cubs and her very swollen nipples. We would have cubs on Sosian soon.
This lioness was now officially known as LF-83 but we named her Bella after our small female domestic cat. It was a fitting name for one of the most beautiful lionesses I’ve ever seen. After Alayne gave her an injection to reverse the drugs, we got inside the Toyota truck and pulled back a short distance to wait. After about fifteen minutes, she lifted her head and immediately got up and walked off. We finally ridded ourselves of the foul-smelling zebra rump that we had been carrying around for two days, leaving it for the lions and the bold little jackal. The best part about this capture was that we didn’t have to listen to the grating baby-buffalo-in-distress tape.
After several failures to collar a lion on Sosian, we had finally succeeded and now had two collared lions to monitor and new cubs to look forward to. Romulus, who had been ousted from his pride on Loisaba, a ranch to the north of us, had come down to Sosian and joined the three-male coalition that he was somehow related to. It looked like their territory ran from the area around our house in the south all the way up to the northern border of Sosian. I decided to call this group of lions the Acacia Dam Pride. We had much to learn about them.
Acacia Dam Pride Activity
The lion activity here on Sosian continues to be amazing. We've had a lot of sightings of what I now call the Acacia Dam Pride between the turn-off to Sosian Ranch and Acacia Dam, just west of our house. I believe this pride includes a number of adult females, some sub-adults and three big males who must be related in some way to Romulus, our big collared male. I'm not sure where Romulus and Bella fit in but we hope to learn more as we continue to monitor them. In October we saw this group twice in one week. One Monday morning we were called on the radio by Babu, ex-head of Sosian security, and told that there were five lions just opposite the Sosian rock sign and turn-off. At first we couldn't find the lions, so we stopped and Mike climbed on top of the Land Rover. As he scanned the rocks on the escarpment opposite the road and Sosian sign, he suddenly saw five pairs of eyes watching him and me as I walked around the Land Rover. They had a great perch on the rock with fabulous views so they could see everything that was happening below them. People walked or cycled by on the road, completely unaware that they were being watched by some curious lions. They eventually got bored and hot, and moved back under the trees and bushes.
Two days later, we encountered some of the same group when driving to the ranch house for dinner. It was about 7:00 in the evening and already dark when we saw a ranch worker on a bicycle coming toward us on our road. We stopped and he asked if we had seen any wild animals! He told us he had just ridden past some lions about half a mile up the road but was more worried about elephants. These people are absolutely insane riding their bicycles or walking at night around here. Sure enough, about half a mile further on, we suddenly saw three lionesses run across the road in front of us and then watch us from the tall grass. They were wary but still quite curious.
Lions Close to Home
Our most exciting encounter with lions occurred when some of the Acacia Dam gang decided to visit our house one night. At 1:00 in the morning Mike was awakened by a loud crashing noise outside the bedroom. Shortly after that, he heard a noise that sounded like something was walking on the metal mesh top of the cat enclosure. His first thought was that some nocturnal creature like a genet or civet cat was climbing on the enclosure. Another possibility was a leopard. Leopards can be very bold and a few months earlier, our ranch manager Hannes had gotten up and looked out his bedroom window to see a leopard walking on the verandah.
Mike’s curiosity got the better of him and he decided to get up and investigate. He walked down the hallway in the dark and fetched the spotlight from his office, then headed for the front door. He chose going out the front entrance of the house to give him a better view of the cat enclosure and also to make a hasty retreat easier if necessary. Before opening the door, he paused and wondered if it was a smart thing to do.
The night was cloudy but the moon provided just enough light so Mike could leave the spotlight off. As he walked cautiously toward the cat enclosure, he suddenly heard something big crashing through the bushes. He thought that a kudu had come to eat some of my plants and scanned the area with the spotlight but saw and heard nothing. Feeling braver, he continued walking with the spotlight on to the end of the house. Just as he reached the cat enclosure, he caught sight of a flash of tawny color moving quickly around the corner and across his path into the bushes. It was a big female lion, the last animal he expected to encounter, and he quickly turned and headed back to the house in shock. There had been at least two lions on top of the cat enclosure, probably attracted by the scent of our small cats. It was a bold move because these lions are generally very wary of humans but animals, like people, can be unpredictable and we should never underestimate their ability to surprise us.
Finding Romulus and Bella
It took us over a month to find Romulus and Bella after Bella was fitted with a radio collar.
Every time we went out looking for them with our radio-tracking equipment, we would only hear a monotonous static. I felt like one of those scientists listening to transmissions from space, waiting for some sort of contact from other beings, and wondered if we would ever get a signal. Finally we started picking up weak signalsand falsely assumed they were coming from across the main Laikipia road on Ol Maisor Ranch. We were still novices at radio tracking and through much trial and error, finally figured out how to use the receiver and antennas to follow the signal to its source. Once we picked up a signal from the long-range antenna on top of the Land Rover, we would switch to the hand-held rubber directional antenna to pinpoint the exact direction of the transmission and move in on it as the signal got louder and the dashes on the receiver screen increased in number.
One Sunday afternoon we drove north up to the central plains of the ranch and immediately picked up both Bella's and Romulus' signals. With me sitting on top of the Land Rover holding the directional antenna and guiding Mike, we drove off the road and through the grass toward the only good-sized tree in the area. I knew before I looked through my binoculars that Bella had to be under that tree. Her signal on the radio was beeping loudly and covering the whole screen with dashes, meaning you are right next to the collared object! Sure enough I saw two yellow eyes glaring at me from the grass and immediately felt very vulnerable sitting out in the open on the roof of the Land Rover. I told Mike to keep driving to a safer distance, climbed inside and then explained what had happened. That was the last time we worked the directional antenna from outside the Land Rover as the lions are much more tolerant of a big metal box than of human forms that they immediately recognize as dangerous. Bella was still very wary of us and we didn’t want to frighten her or Romulus in the process of tracking them. We watched Bella for a short time and then left to find Romulus.
The big boy himself was across the road about one kilometer away from Bella, sitting out in the open grass and surrounded by four other lions. As we drove closer, the other lions crouched down in the grass but Romulus didn't even turn around to look at us. As we drove around to face him, he totally ignored us except for an occasional disdainful glance. The other lions were part of the Acacia Dam Pride, an adult female and her three sub-adult offspring, the same lions we'd seen on the eland kill over a month before. The adult female and young male were very relaxed in our presence but the young females were quite nervous and watched us intensely.
Throughout November we used our radio-tracking equipment to locate Bella over and over again in the same secluded, rugged spot in the northern end of the Samburumburu Lugga. She chose a great spot to give birth to her cubs: remote and full of rocks and vegetation to hide small cubs in while she was away. Bella stayed with her cubs during the day and emerged at night to hunt the abundant zebra on the nearby plains. We never saw her or the cubs during our visits due to the ruggedness of the terrain, but we were able to pinpoint almost exactly where they were hiding. Besides we didn't want to disturb her or the cubs. Occasionally we would also pick up Romulus' signal with her or nearby. It was comforting to know that he was around and would protect the cubs.
Bella’s Cubs
One of our most exciting sightings yet was finally seeing Bella's cubs. We followed Bella's and Romulus' signals to a spot well off the road in the northern section of the ranch and spotted a small cub under a bush right next to Romulus. We eventually saw another cub next to it. The two cubs were about five and a half months old, beautiful, healthy and very curious. They couldn't take their eyes off us but weren't that frightened either. Eventually four other lions that we hadn't seen got up and moved off with Romulus reluctantly following. We had never seen these lions before, a female with an older cub, a subadult female and a subadult male, so we continue to find new pride members. All the lions had very full stomachs and Romulus' belly was so big that he could hardly walk! After driving back to the original spot, we saw Bella, well-hidden, next to her cubs under the bush. She is definitely getting used to our Land Rover and more comfortable with us being around. We had been trying for months to get a glimpse of her cubs, so this was a momentous sighting.
Recollaring Romulus
Romulus, the big, magnificent male lion on Sosian was ready for a new radio-tracking collar (they only last about two years) but frustratingly, we couldn't find him or Bella, our other collared lion. Tracking flights by Laurence Frank and his assistant Alayne from the Laikipia Predator Project showed that Romulus and Bella were staying in a very remote area in the northeastern corner of Sosian, next to Kisima Ranch and Samburu communal land. Because the Pinguone Lugga runs across the top of the ranch, we couldn't drive into the area to get close to them and they only came out at night to hunt on the plains.
We finally had a break when Mike drove up in one morning after a tracking flight and picked up strong signals from both of them on the Sosian side of the Pinguone Lugga. We contacted Alayne immediately and she rushed over to Sosian.
We had some problems finding meat for bait, so the sun was beginning to set as we raced north to the Pinguone Lugga. Just before we reached the Lugga, we picked up strong signals from both Romulus and Bella, and stopped to prepare for the darting. Alayne prepared the drugs for her darting gun and we cleared out the back of the Toyota. Mike and Alayne then tied the sheep carcass to a rope to the Toyota truck, no easy feat as it could easily break apart if pulled by a 500-pound lion. It wasn't the best bait for a lion but was all we had. Then we set off up the road with Mike driving and Alayne standing on the back seat and looking out the roof hatch. Only about 100 meters from where we left the Land Rover, we saw the lions (I'm sure they were watching us in our preparations). Romulus sat up, looking intently at us, and we could see several lionesses behind him. As we slowly and gingerly pulled closer over very rocky ground, he started sniffing the air with great interest as he caught the scent of the sheep. We sat for a while as he sniffed, walked forward, sat and sniffed again, looked back several times to see if the females were with him. He was taking his time, figuring out the best approach to the sheep behind the truck.
Soon the lionesses grew bolder and came out of the bushes behind Romulus, also sniffing the air. There was the stunning Bella, a huge, muscular lioness with almond-shaped eyes. With her was another lioness, who, we think, has two small cubs that were hidden. And we saw two young subadult females that are probably the older offspring of the lioness. What I loved about the females was the way they carried their tails curled up in the air and constantly rubbed against each other as though for reassurance. The sun was going down quickly and we couldn't afford to wait and let Romulus take his own time.
Suddenly Alayne started calling like a sheep and Romulus jerked his head up and stood up. It was an amazingly good imitation of a sheep and certainly seemed to fool the lions. Now he started moving forward in earnest, getting closer and closer to us. Alayne told Mike to turn around and move back to a more open area across the road. If she darted Romulus there, he could easily run into the bush and disappear down into the Lugga. For safety reasons, we had to be able to drive up to him once he was immobilized. The only problem with turning around was the big rocks surrounding us. A few times, I was afraid we were stuck but Mike gunned the engine and sharply turned the truck, unfortunately running over the sheep carcass. I heard a loud popping sound as the carcass exploded and then the cracking of bones as one of the legs came off. Romulus rushed in and grabbed the leg as we drove up into the open area, away from the rocks and bushes.
As we sat there willing Romulus to hurry up with his meal, the sun was dipping below the horizon. Finally he was finished and walked up to us with purpose. Alayne told Mike to drive further up into the open area and as he pulled away, Romulus rushed in and grabbed the sheep, making off with the stomach contents. Not what we wanted! Now we had to wait as he finished eating the intestines. The lionesses edged in to try and steal some from him but he was having none of that. He only allowed Bella, his favorite, to come next to him. It seemed to take forever for him to finish as I sat there tensely, worrying that we would run out of time. Everything seemed to be working against us. Now he was finally up and walking toward us. He pounced on the sheep and it cracked under his strength. Would he grab the pieces and run off? No, he sat and started eating only 30 feet from the truck as we snapped photo after photo of him. Maybe luck was on our side after all.
I sat in the front seat holding my breath, waiting for Alayne to take the shot. Romulus wasn't presenting Alayne with an easy target as he faced us straight on. The wind was really blowing and I worried about a gust of wind blowing the dart off course. Finally at 6:27 pm, the loud pop of the gun startled me and Romulus jumped up with a pink dart dangling from his side, looking around in surprise and suspicion. The wind did blow the dart about four inches off target and it landed in his lower hip. Would Romulus run off into the bush? Again, luck was with us as he stayed there and tried to eat some more. Then the drugs started taking effect and he swayed on his feet. It took a lot longer for him to go under than it had with Bella and he resisted it with all his great strength. We knew the drugs were working when he vomited all the sheep he had just eaten, an unfortunate side-effect of the drugs. He suddenly fell to the ground but still tried to get up. After at least 20 minutes or so, he seemed to be out.
We drove up beside him and Alayne carefully got out of the vehicle and tried pulling his tail. He jerked his head up. He was not going to go under without a fight. Alayne had to administer more drugs, reaching out and quickly poking the needle into his rump, then jumping back in the truck. Meanwhile, it was getting dark. To the west in a deep cobalt blue sky, a luminous crescent moon appeared with bright white Venus next to it. Slowly, stars began to appear in the night sky and the Southern Cross dominated in the south. Mike moved the truck back so the headlights were shining on Romulus, who lay right next to his huge pile of vomit. Not the best working environment!
As Alayne worked on Romulus, Mike and I did our usual job of watching for the other lions who were curiously circling the area, probably wanting to get to the remaining sheep. We stood on the front seat with our heads through the roof hatch, shining torches around the surrounding bush. We constantly saw eyes as the girls circled, moved closer, then further away, trying to figure out what we were doing. They disappeared for a while but then came back on the other side, this time with Bella's cubs in tow. The cubs were very curious, coming close and sitting in the grass watching us.
It seemed to take forever for Alayne to finish her work on Romulus. A bitter cold wind was blowing and my hands were numb with the cold. Close to 8:00, she finished and I rushed down to touch Romulus and have a photo taken. Even though he was completely out, I felt very vulnerable and a bit scared going up to him. You don't realize how insignificant we humans are until you sit next to a huge male lion. I put my hand on his mane that seemed to go on forever and felt the wiry hair. I ran my hand over his side and back, feeling the warmth of his fur and watching his stomach heaving up and down with his slow but steady breathing. He was surprisingly free of scars for a male lion. Perhaps his massive size intimidates other males so he can avoid confrontations.
Alayne then administered the antidote and we moved the Land cruiser back a bit to wait for him to wake up. When he lifted his head, Mike switched on the headlights and that seemed to stimulate him into getting onto his feet. He swayed for a while and then began walking, so we drove back to our Land Rover, and left him to recover and the females to enjoy what was left of the sheep. Romulus and his harem certainly have a lovely, wild place up in the Pinguone Lugga and seem to be thriving there, probably living off the huge numbers of zebra we saw on the plains. All the lions looked extremely healthy and well-fed. I worry about them moving north across the lugga onto the Samburu communal land but I think Romulus is too smart to do that.
Achilles—The New Boy Takes Over
While we were on holiday, Alayne from the Laikipia Predator Project stayed at our house and managed to collar a young male here on Sosian. She named him Achilles because she almost darted him in the Achilles tendon when he leaped at the last minute. With a blonde mane, Alayne thought he looked like Brad Pitt in the movie Troy.
Achilles continues to evade us. He has firmly established himself in the heart of the Acacia Dam Pride territory and we pick up his signal on a regular basis, many times from our house. Though we often get close to him, within 100 feet or less, we aren't able to see him as he always picks thick bush and rugged terrain to rest in. The good news is that he no longer moves off when we approach so he may be getting used to the Land Rover. Mike has become obsessed with him, using the tracking antenna every morning to see if he's around the house. I know that, like the big male leopard around our house, we will see him when he's ready to show himself and no sooner. Now we have a phantom lion to add to our chui ghost.
Romulus and Bella, Laikipia's beautiful lion couple, are back together and are now spending their time on Kisima, the ranch to the east of us. I was hoping that they would come back to their old stomping grounds in the Pinguone Lugga on the northern boundary of Sosian but my hopes were dashed when we picked up Achilles' signal in that area one day. It was the first time we had found him that far north and it means that he has taken over Romulus' old territory on Sosian. I really miss finding Romulus and Bella as they were real flesh-and-blood lions unlike this ghostly Achilles.
Achilles Shows Himself
We started off 2006 with one of our most exciting lion sightings. Mike woke me up at 4:00 in the morning, saying that he had heard something outside. We walked out on the verandah and up the stone steps by the kitchen door, and listened. Sure enough there was some growling followed by the sound of bones being crushed: definitely lions on a kill and not very far from the house. Since we didn't know where the lions were, we decided it wasn't a good idea to walk up to the platform above the water tanks in the dark, and instead went out to the Land Rover. Mike turned the radio-tracking receiver on and there was Achilles' signal, loud and clear. We drove slowly down our road with me shining the spotlight at the bushes but saw nothing, so decided to drive to the water tanks and climb the platform. From the platform, we could clearly hear growling and crunching sounds from the bushes just across the road from us. Our askari Leringanto joined us and told us there were six lions on a kudu kill. We would have to wait until it started to get light to see anything.
I tried to go back to sleep but couldn't with the intermittent growling punctuated by whooping from hyenas. Finally at 6:15, I got up and went up to the platform where Mike was already scanning with his binoculars. It's a good thing I went up when I did because about ten minutes later we saw a male lion with a very light mane walk out of the bushes and up over the ridge. Finally, Achilles! Soon two more males, these with light brown manes, followed him. So there were at least three males in this coalition--no wonder Romulus left. We decided to drive over to the area where the males had come from. As we pulled up, we saw three females at the kill, torn between watching us and eating. Their hunger soon won out and they resumed eating but always keeping an eye on us. At one point, the biggest and most dominant female growled and swatted at a younger-looking female. Mike got a good look at the carcass and thought it was a male waterbuck. We watched these lionesses for about twenty minutes until they suddenly looked up and then ran off. What had frightened them? We looked around and Leringanto, sitting in the back seat, said, "Captain!" Sure enough Captain was walking toward us. We frantically waved at him to leave but he just sat down in the grass. Leringanto was beside himself, saying over and over, "Captain mbaya!" We gave up and drove back to the workshop.
After I made coffee, I walked to the platform and scanned for a while. The females had returned and were feeding at the carcass while two little jackals hovered nearby. Then one female left and suddenly the two males with brown manes returned. The other females ran off, deferring to the males whose stomachs were so full that they waddled rather than walked. As the two females left, they suddenly saw me on the platform and stared nervously before running off. Then one of the males saw me. I froze and tried not to move but it was too late and he didn't take his eyes off me. It was quite exciting to watch him through the binoculars staring at me. Eventually he'd had enough and trotted off. I decided to leave the platform and let them finish their meal in peace. Later Mike and Leringanto walked over to the carcass and discovered that it was not a kudu or a waterbuck but an eland. That night the lions returned and carried off what little was left.
Lion Honeymoon
We've had another amazing lion sighting. Yesterday morning, Mike picked up Achilles' signal right above our dam and heard some growling and squabbling from that direction. We thought the lions might be on another kill. Mike continued to scan the area all day and in the evening, about 5:30, he finally saw a male lion on a rock outcropping above the dam, not too far from our water pump; it was one of the brown-maned lions and not Achilles. When I looked through the binoculars, I saw a lioness on the rocks below him. About 10 minutes later, the male got up, mounted the female and mated! It was cool and the setting sun was shining on the rock outcropping, so they must have been catching the last rays on the rocks; we would never have seen them if they had been in the bush as usual.
Suddenly the female got up and moved away with the male following behind a bush. Since I could no longer see them, I rushed up to the platform and found them again. The male was lying down and it looked like the lioness was next to him but I couldn't quite make her out. Then I realized she was lying on her back with her legs in the air. They had probably just mated again. I sat on the platform and waited. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, the male got up, mounted the lioness and they mated. I heard some noise, a strange sort of growling and snarling with a bit of a yowl at the end twice, and it was over quickly. It might have lasted 10 to 15 seconds at most. The male went behind another bush to lie down and the female rolled around on her back with legs in the air.
It was getting dark, so I left. The consort pair started roaring at dark and we heard roaring again all night long from several of them. This morning Achilles is back where he was yesterday morning, above the dam. Maybe he's waiting for another chance to get in the action if the other male starts to lose interest. The 3 males in the coalition must be fairly evenly matched--when we saw them on the kill, they all looked about the same size.
The lions seem to have taken over our house. Maybe I should call them Duma Dam Pride instead of Acacia Dam Pride! We are starting to see them more and more, and are learning far more than we ever did with Romulus and Bella, who were always up north. Mike is calling this new male coalition 'The 3 Tenors' because they are so vocal, sometimes too vocal for me when they wake me up several nights in a row with their roaring by the house.
Collaring Athena
We finally collared another lion on Sosian yesterday. After more than a month of mishaps, it all came together and turned out to be the easiest collaring that Alayne from the Laikipia Predator Project has ever done. Alayne arrived at 3:30 in the afternoon and picked up the dead goat at the ranch on the way to our house. It was a scrawny goat, unlike the nice big one last time, and we were a little worried that one of the males would get hold of it and rip it apart.
Alayne, Mike and I drove to Acacia Dam around 5:00 and picked up Achilles' signal where Mike had heard it in the morning. He was in the bush behind the dam, a favorite area for ambushing game coming down to drink at the only source of water in the area. Alayne prepared two darts, one for a female and one for a male. Achilles' collar is not acting properly and we're afraid we'll completely lose the signal soon, so he must be re-collared. Our priority, though, was collaring one of his girlfriends. Mike and Alayne tied the goat behind the Toyota truck and we left the road and drove across the grass through the bushes. As we moved in on Achilles, we suddenly saw three lionesses watching us from the bushes. As Mike drove by them, one of the females ran out and grabbed the goat, refusing to let go. Mike parked in an open area but the lioness dragged the goat behind the truck. Alayne decided to go through the hatch and crawl over the roof, a first for her. When she reached the back, she peered down straight at the lioness, who was looking back at her. They both stared at each other for about 10 minutes until she finally turned her head and Alayne could dart her in the shoulder. Amazingly the lioness didn't run off but stayed with the goat, even after she was darted.
As Mike stood in the hatch watching for the other lions, I helped Alayne work on the lioness. I named her Athena, in keeping with the Greek theme, and her number is LF128. She is about 3 years old, still quite young, with a lot of spots on her flanks and belly. She had a very full stomach as did the other lions. At one point I had to hold her front paw and pull her leg out so Alayne could measure her shoulder height. Her paw was huge, barely fitting in my hands, and this was a small lion. These cats have such immense power that it's humbling to be so close to them. Athena has a broken tail tip but that shouldn't hinder her in any way.
When Alayne finished her work and gave her the antidote, we backed off to watch. We wanted to make sure the males didn't come out and bother her in her drugged state so close to the dead goat. Two of the boys, one of them Achilles, were in the bushes to the left of us, watching us intently. Up close, we could see that their manes are not fully developed and they had that punk mohawk look. They are nothing compared to Romulus but there are three of them and only one of him.
Soon one of the other lionesses came out, grabbed the goat by the neck and ran into the bushes with it. The two males got up and walked over to steal it from her and we could hear a lot snarling and growling as they fought over it. It didn't seem far since the lionesses were the brave ones who took chances to get the goat while the more timid males hid in the bushes. That's the way lion society works! Eventually Athena woke up and tried to move about, though she kept falling over on her wobbly legs. The two lionesses, now without the goat, came over and rubbed against her. It was wonderful to watch the close bond between the sisters (we're fairly certain that they are sisters).
This is a young pride. The three males are big but still scruffy looking and will hopefully be able to hold on to this territory for a long time. I hope we don't have to go through the turmoil and carnage that Mugie Ranch to the north of us is experiencing (two new males have killed six lions and a number of cubs in the past four months). As I looked at the unconscious Athena on the ground, I thought how lucky she is to be on a safe ranch and thought of all those other lions being poisoned on Samburu communal land or being slaughtered by the Masai in southern Kenya. What a tragedy it will be if these wild lions disappear forever.
The Three Tenors Plus One
We just had a very big lion sighting. Clients from the lodge saw 9 lions (2 males, 4 adult females and 3 subadult females) just off the Kinamba-Nanyuki Road near the turnoff to our house. Mike joined them and picked up Athena's signal in the bushes nearby though they couldn't see her.
That evening Mike and I drove down to the same spot and got very close to Athena but were prevented by thick bush from seeing her and the other lions. We decided to drive down the Kinamba Road and not far from the other lions, were stunned to see 3 males lying right next to the road: the 2 brown-maned punks with mohawks and a new one! This new lion was older, had a full mane and very scarred nose. One of the young ones ran off but the other two males just sat there looking at us. Not even traffic on the road could persuade them to move. We drove further and turned around to come back just in time to see 4 males walkig across the road. This time Achilles was with though we couldn’t pick up any signal. He must have been there the whole time but his collar had stopped working. I think the group of at least 12 lions had killed a buffalo because the males had such full stomachs that they could barely move and a herd of buffalo had been in the area in the morning.
So there are 4 males in this coalition, which explains how these young males could take over from the old coalition. They had help from the experienced older male, who might have been related to them. It was an impressive sight to see 4 male lions walking across the Kinamba Road! They should hold on to their Sosian territory for a long time.