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 ...

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13 Comments

on The Ntsevu Pride: Lions of Summer

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Marinda Drake
Master Tracker

Can the Ntsevu pride be classified as a “super pride”?It is just speculation, but if all the cubs survive and it depend on how many of them are female and they reproduce and stay with the pride, it can be the beginning of a huge (and hugely) successful pride.

James Tyrrell
Alumni

Hi Marinda,
I don’t think just yet. It will depend very much on cub mortality rate, and I’m not sure what the sexes are, but as far as I know, so-called Super Prides are only classified as such when they have edged over the 20 mark. Because most cubs don’t make it to adulthood, I think it will be a while before we see the Ntsevu pride reaching this number, especially as given the history in the area and of their lineage, we can probably expect a split if they have too many sub-adults.
Maybe one day…

Andrew and Daniel Bolnick
Digital Tracker

New life abounds and I wish I were there. Thanks for some really good photos

Laura Eberly
Digital Ranger

Wonderful! Thank you for all your hard work. I love starting my day with your Blog,
best in 2019,
Laura

Christa Blessing
Master Tracker

Hello 2019! I have started counting the days till I can see all these cute little lions myself in Londolozi in a few weeks time. And all your leopards and other splendid animals.

Callum Evans
Guest contributor

The Ntsevu Pride going to be an incredible sight when the cubs are grown up!

Denise Vouri
Guest contributor

What a great way to begin my day, seeing more photos of these adorable cubs. Thanks to Guy and his secret contact, we were able to view some of the smallest cubs back in late November. I sent you a few but have many more of their antics, including faux fighting with each other and their older cousins. I am hopeful this pride will be able to raise all of their cubs……. keep us posted. ???

Mary Beth Wheeler
Guest contributor

All 13 were fathered by the Birmingham males? Is the Tsalala female pregnant as yet?

James Tyrrell
Alumni

Hi Mary Beth, it actually looks like she is! We haven’t seen her in the last 36 hours but she was seen crossing the airstrip at midday two days ago and apparently looked heavily pregnant!!

Wendy Macnicol
Digital Tracker

Dear James. This is an interesting “catch up” on the lion news at Londolozi. So glad you guys have had good rains which have arrived here too – late – but still oh so welcome. Wendy M

Joanne Wadsworth Kelley
Master Tracker

I’m so excited about the Ntsevu pride’s size. Actually, it makes me smile seeing all these cubs bounding around….then I think of all the willing work these Lionesses do daily. Exhausting. Case in point was your image of one cub persistently attempting to nurse while another cub was pouncing on her back! That gave me a good laugh. All these images were superior, James and I wish this pride the very best moving forward this year.

Marianna Gdanis
Explorer

How wonderful to see so many little cubs! Hopefully we’ll be able to see them when we’re there in a few days, they lions were quite elusive on our last visit

Henk Slettenhaar
Senior Digital Ranger

Great story and awesome photos. There are many cubs and I hope they all survive.

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