About the Author

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 ...

View James's profile

16 Comments

on Birmingham Male Lion Searching for Tsalala Lioness

Join the conversationJoin the conversation

Marinda Drake
Master Tracker

I still hope the Tsalala female will join a pride maybe to the north. If this scenario can happen will she leave the Sand river and move north with a new pride?

James Tyrrell
Alumni

Hi Marinda. Hard to say. The Sand River is prime territory so I imagine a new pride would try to incorporate it into their territory.

Marianna Gdanis
Explorer

Thankfully she is still ok, it would be wonderful if she could have cubs and keep the legacy of the Tsalala pride going ??

Andrew and Daniel Bolnick
Digital Tracker

Hoping for the long shot and a happy ending for all

James Tyrrell
Alumni

Hi Andrew and Daniel,

I think we all are…!

Penny Tainton
Senior Digital Ranger

Unbelievably majestic. Thank you for sharing these powerful visuals.

Jeff Rodgers
Digital Tracker

While every blog is interesting and all the images are wonderful, just curious why some have metadata and some don’t.

James Tyrrell
Alumni

Hi Jeff,
We tend to stick the metadata on the purely photographic posts.
Best,
James

Denise Vouri
Guest contributor

It’s another thought provoking post from you James. Lions tend to be much more social than their other feline counterparts, yet I’ve concluded, perhaps erroneously, that like high school cliques are formed, so lions form their own. I suspect that because the Tsalala lioness has been on her own for awhile, it would be difficult for her to join any other pride, although if she had cubs, she might be more acceptable to the group. If not, then raising cubs alone could be an impossible task.
In her case perhaps the feminist attitude of “a woman with a man is like a fish without a bicycle “ will continue to work for her. She’s obviously eating and healthy so……….we’ll wait for the next chapter.

Theo Bush
Explorer

Hello James, thanks for the update. Do you have any idea what happened to the missing Birmingham Male Lion, Mfumo? No one seems to know what has happened to him, apparently he’s not been seen in months.

Joanne Wadsworth Kelley
Master Tracker

Poor girl. One can only speculate, but I continue to worry for her. Thanks James for the continued update.

Callum Evans
Master Tracker

Is there ever a quiet period for the Londolozi lion dynamics?!

Lone lionesses have recorded raising cubs by themselves before, so it’s impossible that the Tsalala Female could pull it off.

Tina Gutierrez
Explorer

Hi James,
Thanks for the awesome awesome photos and stories you share here! Could it be possible for the female to be barren? If so would the male lions ever be able to sense that? Would the male lions be able to sense that and if so would they just keep mating with her and leave her be or would they do something drastic like kill her?

James Tyrrell
Alumni

Hi Tina,
This would certainly be possible. It’s a very good question actually, as I remember there were reports of one of the Mapogo killing a lioness that was suspected of being barren.
The males would most likely be able to detect this through pheromones in the females’ urine.

Danilo Ferrera
Explorer

Do you have any idea what happened to the missing Birmingham Male Lion, Mfumo? He died?

James Tyrrell
Alumni

Hi Danilo,

We don’t know offhand but if we find out we’ll let you know. Yes sadly he is presumed dead.

Regards

Connect with Londolozi

Follow Us

One moment...
Anonymous
Be the first to this photo
You and 1 others this photo
q

Filed under
Anonymous
10 April, 2798
+
Add Profile