Just when you think you’ve witnessed all of the indescribable or unbelievable traits within the animal kingdom, our guide James Tyrrell and tracker Exon, pulled the ace out of their sleeves and gave us the experience of witnessing very few can say they have seen – two male lions fighting!
James mentioned at the outset of this particular morning that they had heard the roar of the Majingilane Male Lions in the early morning hours and that we were going to go see if we could locate them. And locate them we did!
Male Lion Fight by John O Brien
Upon entering a clearing in the bush, there lie 5 lions, two males and three females resting next to their respective mates along with one lone male. After watching them for no more than 10 minutes one of the males lying peacefully alongside his lioness decides to get up and charge the other male who was alongside his “girlfriend.” The two males ensued into what was a very serious brawl complete with the deep growl, claws extended and blood drawn. The whole ordeal lasted about 30-45 seconds and James had told us that at least two of the five males were brothers.
If you look closely at the pictures, you’ll notice just how intense this fight was. You’ll see one male excreting his scent and the other lion with blood on his right tooth. This was not a playful act by any means and what was most interesting was that at the end of the fight, they went back to the respective “girlfriends” and went on as if nothing ever happened. Nature, you gotta love it!
The two males in this fight are the Black Maned Male and the Golden Maned Male. If you recall watching ‘Majingilane – The Story of Lion Warfare’ you will realize that this is another example of the hierarchy of dominance amongst these 4 males, wherein the Golden Maned Male tends to be the more subservient lion. Although the Golden Maned Male does put up a small fight against the Black Maned Male, at no stage does he look to be the more dominant lion in this brawl. At the end of the conflict, you can see the Black Maned running after the female whilst the Golden Maned Male flees to safety. – rich
Male Lions Fighting by John O Brien
My wife Arti and our wonderful friends Jerome Dever and Roberto Loria selected Londolozi as our safari destination for what was described as the crème de-le-crème especially if you desire “that trip of a lifetime.” It was that and more and I can assure you, we will be back. THANK YOU Londolozi and ALL the staff at Varty Camp.
Written & Photographed by: John & Arti O’ Brien (Londolozi Guests)
Filmed by: Jerome Dever & Roberto Loria (Londolozi Guests)
Good observation Rich ! There were Sparta lionesses ?
You know something about the Sparta lioness with 3 small cubs ? Did they survived the flood ?
Mele I am not sure if they have been seen since the flood. But we think that they will be fine..they may just be east of our boundary.
Thanks Adam , the lioness is 1st time mother , I hope she hide them well . I was thinking if she is not the lioness who increase the stake between our males… ( in case she lost the cubs – but is not the case ) .
Great blog…thanks for the explanations….love the fine details.
It is a pleasure Syl, I hope the dynamics between the different male lions in this particular coalition is starting to make more sense.
Ooooh wow, that video gave me proper goosebumps. Fantastic!
So, overall there were 6 lions (2 male/female partners and 1 female-1 male solo)? Love the dynamics…but even in the wild, boys will be boys! 😉 At the end of the day, blood is thicker than water. Would LOVE to know who the females were….
GREAT video! Thank you!
Brilliant pictures, but I think our sightings of wild dog chasing mating leopards on Sunday morning, eclipsed even this !
James, Im beginning to think that your remarkable fortune with sightings is more a reflection of your guiding skill than quantity of good luck… long may it last. rich
Really beautiful pictures, John. So glad you shared them. I’m still jealous that I missed this event by mere hours! ….sigh. Hi to Arti, Jerome and Roberto!
Dear Rich,
Thanks very much for the video and the story. I surely do not want to doubt your comments, but please allow me to question the 2nd lion involved. The first for sure is Dark Mane. I still have some doubts whom you mean with Golden Mane. Given zour previous posts, comments and the referenced video, I deduct it is the ThreeTooth, the one with scattered facial scars. If it is him, and the least dominant one, well then the difference is quite small. But I would rather tend to say that the 2nd one involved in the fight is HipScar. He is quite a big guy, and has this light grey shine in his eyes, almost no scars, but this bare skin patch, what you call scar, on his left hip. Can zou maybe do a doublecheck? Thanks,Patrik
Hi Patrick, I have identified the lions in the video in the same way I identified them in the 15min documentary -‘Majingilane – The Story of Lion Warfare’. The Black Maned Male, the Male with the Scar Nose, the Hip Scarred Male (whom has scattered scars across his face and scar on his left hand hip) and the golden maned male. I have looked closely at the video again and am confident that the second male is still the Golden maned male. You will see no scar on his hip which means that it cannot be the hip scar male. I hope that clears up any misunderstanding on your end. Thanks for your comments and feedback, regards, rich
Thanks again Rich. Good in fact to see Golden Mane doing fine and having access to females.
Here ya go rich, http://travel.webshots.com/video/3098581060043762658sfkYgc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHd0Y3cq9Mg&feature=youtu.be The first one is of the 4 Majing eating kinkytail and the sendond one is the orignal video you saw.
the whole story will be on Nat Geo’s Caught in the act during this year. I know it will only be shown in SA later this year. This is what I was told. Hope it helps and keep up all the great work. I can only dream of coming to Londolozi someday to witness these magnificent cats.
Thanks Anthony, very interesting to see. Where did you find out all this information from? Look forward to seeing it on Caught in the Act and seeing you at Londolozi sometime in the near future. rich
I was on the Mapogo Fb page and asked Karen if there was more video footage of the very first video I shared with you. She told me yes and that it was gonna be on Nat Geo on Caught in the Act. Im looking forward to watching it. The vid’s belong to Karen, who witnessed both attacks and taped them.
Hallo?i do not think the golden maned lion was running to safety.He ran the opposite direction just as the black maned lion to their various lionesses after the brief fight.
Possibly Tim, the golden maned male often seems to be by himself!
eu gosto de ver umleão matando outro uma luta demorada e legal eu gosto de mulheres playboy
Incredible sighting. I still watch the video Magingilane the story of warfare. Amazing video. It is sad to think that the Magingilane coalition is gone.