PREVIEW

AssetID: 35649053

Headline: Lioness Attacks Invading Lion That Killed Her Cubs

Caption: Love wars? This lioness clearly had little affection for a lion suitor - giving him a bruising uppercut to the jaw. However, it was justly deserved for the lion - having being part of a predator duo who had invaded a pride of lionesses and their cubs. The males had killed and eaten this lioness's three cubs and now one was in the midst of mating with her. Paul Goldstein, a guide for Exodus Travels (www.exodus.co.uk), captured the shocking scenes of nature in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy in Kenya. He says the female likely initiated the mating ritual to try and distract the male from further carnage, thinking that maybe one of her cubs may still be alive. Wimbledon-based Paul explains: "The fabled saying goes ‘ Nature is red in tooth and claw’ but guide, photographer and presenter Paul Goldstein has rarely seen it quite so visceral. ‘In the middle of the Olare Motorogi Conservancy in Kenya I witnessed a huge turf war between two nomadic males and some very protective lionesses. The Motorogi pride has two resident males: big and powerful brutes who would probably have seen off these two intruders but they were upwind mating with a new female and missed this invasion. These two boys stormed the female’s Bastille and killed and ate the girl’s three tiny cubs. The females then fought tenaciously with them, trying to drive them away but eventually failing. "The mother of the cubs clearly thought one might still be alive and holed up in the thicket, so initiated a mating ritual to try to distract the male (Half-tail). The male would do this anyway, it is common practice for a successful invading male to immediately start mating once the cubs are destroyed. Normally the early stages of mating are particularly violent but I have never seen a reaction like this. The female, probably still grieving and knowing the chance of survival for any of her cubs was small, fought off the male post mating with a vigorous and vicious right cross Anthony Joshua would have approved of and then lashed out with both paws. The male, already scarred from earlier bouts only just cleared the savage claws. However, they did carry on mating. "The noise was fearsome, a sobering but also graphic example of how these animals live with very different parameters to our own." Paul guides for Exodus travels (www.exodus.co.uk) and co-owns Kicheche Camps (www.kicheche.com) in Kenya. In November he is lecturing 'An even wilder night out' with the BBC's Chris Packham in Dorking, Buxton and Cheltenham: https://www.exodus.co.uk/wilder-night-out

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