Capturing sightings of baby animals can make for some amazing moments in the Kruger National Park. Not only might the animals themselves be incredible to witness, but baby cubs are always cute.
Trevor Lagerwall, a 66-year-old retired animal enthusiast, hit the jackpot on this type of sighting when he came across fifteen lion cubs huddled together on the side of the road.
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He was on the H4-2, just after leaving Lower Sabie at the end of a week-long holiday when he saw them. After capturing the cubs on camera, Trevor sent the footage and the story in to Latest Sightings.
When Mom’s Away
The remarkable thing about this sighting, is that the rest of the pride was absolutely nowhere to be seen. It’s entirely possible that the lionesses were close by keeping an eye on their cubs, but if they were then they were well camouflaged.
It seemed more likely that the lionesses were out on a hunt nearby, and they’d stashed the cubs safely in the bush. Either way, the cubs appeared to be entirely unsupervised, and that meant it was time to play.
There were cubs with differing age ranges as a part of the group, suggesting that this was likely more than one litter, and perhaps as many as four.
The Cubs Will Play
Free from adult supervision, the cubs were able to do whatever they wanted. Mostly, that seemed to be sticking together, as the world is a big place after all, and they were only small.
It was a nerve wracking experience, no doubt, for these young cubs to suddenly see the world at large without an adult nearby, but as Trevor watched, they still started spreading out and getting up to mischievous games.
Some of them even began exploring the surrounding area, but they always rejoined with the main group and apparently lacked the desire to go very far, suggesting they may have been waiting for the lionesses to return.
Still No Lionesses
Unfortunately, those lionesses still hadn’t returned by the time Trevor had to move on. The road was filling up with cars and Trevor couldn’t sit there watching the cubs forever.
Lion cubs are generally dependent on their mothers for a few years after they’re born, and many of these cubs looked very young indeed, likely too young to survive for long in the wild without support.
The longer they went without any lionesses to support them, the slimmer their chance of survival would become, but Trevor could do nothing but hope that the adults would return for them soon.
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Uncertain Future
Raising lion cubs can be a complicated endeavor, full of challenges and pitfalls. It’s not unknown for lionesses to leave their cubs for long periods of time, but they’re also fiercely protective of them.
If duties such as hunting mean they’re going to be away for a long time, lionesses will stash their cubs somewhere hidden, or under the watchful eyes of the rest of the pride, but Trevor heard later that same day that the lionesses hadn’t returned.
Another safari goer had seen the same cubs, and a herd of elephants headed their way, but had been unable to stay and see the results of the meeting. The ultimate fate of these cubs remains unknown.