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James Tyrrell

Alumni

James had hardly touched a camera when he came to Londolozi, but his writing skills that complemented his Honours degree in Zoology meant that he was quickly snapped up by the Londolozi blog team. An environment rich in photographers helped him develop the ...

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13 Comments

on Sparta Male Joins Tsalala Pride

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Reports from the west say he was with the Mangheni pride yesterday and was apparently well intergrated into the pride.

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Intereating developments. Do hope that the young male find his brothers.

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Wow, the lion activity around Londolozi is just incredible right now. I don’t understand why the Majingilanes would attack their own son, but I suppose they were saying “get lost” since they could have killed him? I have an extreme fondness for both the Tsalala and Sparta boys since they were the first lions I ever saw in the wild. I hope all 6 reach adulthood and live long productive lives.

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Since you mentioned Solo…what was his fate? We saw him in 2008 just after he had been forced to leave the pride. I know he was accepted in the Sparta Pride but after Roller Coaster Male died I don’t know where Solo ended up.

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After the rollercoaster male lion died, the tsalala young male “solo” left the pride with the sparta young males because of the pressure the mapogo and then the majingilane put on the pride. After everything – “solo” and 2 sparta young males became nomadic.

The coalition of 3 became nomadic and disappeared for a while. They came back to the Sabi Sands, and one of the sparta young males, disappeared. This male only had half a tail, and always looked a little sickly.

In 2014 – after causing a stir in the southern and western sections of the Sabi Sands – the remaining Sparta male disappeared after a confrontation with the Selati males, during their reign in the Western portion of the Sabi Sands.

The Tsalala male survived the encounter and again disappeared to continue his nomadic existence. But Solo was photographed in the KNP area with another male from the Sabi Sands. The remaining KNP male (known in Sabi Sabi affectionately as “Freddy”). The pair very recently showed up in the southern section of the Sabi Sands – but after a confrontation with the Charleston young males – the Tsalala male is once again the sole survivor of his coalition.

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Hi James,

Thanks for the blog, indeed interesting turn of events. Yesterday, Idube Lodge posted that the Sparta Young male was with the Mangheni-pride. I hope he finds a pride that fully accepts him.

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Thanks for the update James! I was with Melvin the day he crossed the sand river and he was in rough shape. Hopefully he can find his brothers or stick with the tsalalas. Are his brothers still south near sabi sabi?

Member
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Great blog with very interesting information. Did the staff witness the chasing off of the Sparta boys by the Majingilane? Is it possible that Matshipiri did so, since they were attempting to control over the Sparta pride?

Member
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Thanks for the very interesting update James. He is so thin and injured as well…do you think he will survive? I really hope so. Life is extremely difficult for these young male Lions at the moment.

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isn’t that how some male coalitions where all males aren’t biological brothers form : Another young male joins the brothers from a the same litter and they stick together once thrown out of the pride . If I remember correctly, The Mapogos weren’t all brothers, actually the original leader wasn’t even related to the other members of the coalition right ?

Great reads as usual anyway.

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Awesome write up thnx

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He seems so desperate to join a pride and quite good at it. I hope he settles down soon. He seems like a survivor. Thanks

Member
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Thanks for sharing, James. I have been reading all the posts about lions on your blog these days^^ I am really into it thses days. more interesting than a novel or a movie^^ I hope I can watch more pictures and videos, please post more. I don’t think the young Sparta’s male is safe with Mhangheni, it could be his mistake. As I know, Majingis are close to Mhangheni and near Mhangheni. I am worried about the young male’s safety. I am so touched when I read that the Tsalala’s young male rubbed his nose the Sparta young male’s. That’s amazing. I am worried about Tsalala’s boys as well. Thanks for sharing,again. Please post as much as possible and with detail^^

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