Lions mate throughout the year and quite frequently for that matter. There is however, something quite interesting about watching lions mate. It might be the juxtaposition of loving aggression or the apathetic exhibitionism but what I really think hits home is the enduring determination of the male to ensure that he will be the father of her cubs. These lions are doing exactly what they were put here to do…reproduce and ensure their genes are passed on through the generations.
Granted lions do serve various other purposes as well, and it got me thinking that all of the animals I see at Londolozi and in the rest of the African bushveld do what they are bred to do. Predators hunt and kill ensuring herbivore populations stay regulated, herbivores graze and spread their dung ensuring continual growth of grasslands and browsing material. Dung beetles clean up the dung and bury it to ensure that a natural fertilisation system proliferates new growth. Termites pick up the minute dead material and turn it into nutrient rich husks which stimulate more growth. Everywhere, everything consumes and contributes with purpose.
The new decade of 2010 is signaled to be all about change and lots of it. The truth is that things never stop changing. Not in nature and not in society. The trick is not to fight the change but rather to find your role in it and then make positive contributions towards it. Whether your contribution is picking up someone else’s mess or bringing new life into the world is up to you to decide.
Filmed & Photographed by: Adam Bannister
Written by: Rich Laburn
you are 100 percent correct – male lions do their duty without question and i admire this a lot ,