When a lioness took her cubs for a walk, one of her cubs soon lagged behind. She showed both protectiveness, patience, and tenderness in the sighting that followed.
Tarryn Rae sent her footage to Latest Sightings, which she filmed while on a game drive in South Africa’s Pilanesberg National Park.
Tarryn is the co-owner of G & T Adventures, which offers guided game drives in Pilanesberg.
Watch the video here:
Lioness in long grass
To keep their cubs safe at birth, lionesses keep them hidden away for the first few weeks of life. From time to time, they move their litters to prevent other predators from finding them.
As we join the action in Tarryn’s video, we first see a lioness emerging from long grass.
As she takes in the vehicles queued up to see her, she looks a bit unsettled. She utters soft growls, warning the onlookers to keep their distance.
This is a little unusual for a lion in Pilanesberg, where they are well-habituated to vehicles. But the reason for her skittishness would soon be revealed.
Cubs in tow
Moments later, a trio of cubs emerges from the long grass behind her. Judging by their small size, they are just a couple of months old and therefore entirely dependent on their mother.
This goes some way to explaining her behaviour. Noticing this, Tarryn speaks softly, showing touching concern in what is obviously a stressful moment for the little family.
Patient mom
Meanwhile, the lioness pauses to wait for her little ones to catch up. While she is eager to get away from the noisy vehicles, she is mindful of her cubs’ needs.
As they get closer, she encourages them to keep going by walking on ahead. For two of the cubs, this is all the enticement they need.
By her expression, we can tell that Mom is still somewhat on edge. A short while later, she pauses as two of the cubs catch up. Subsequently, she turns to go once again.
Tantrum time
As she tries to hurry her cubs along, the third cub struggles to keep up…
Then, when the cub lost sight of his family, he did what toddlers often do in these situations. He threw a tantrum.
By this time, the other two cubs had caught up with Mom. As she kept a close watch on the onlookers, she waited for the missing cub to arrive.
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Tense moment
In the meantime, the errant cub was getting too close to the vehicles. At one point, it looked like it was about to go under Tarryn’s vehicle, at which point we hear her saying, “Don’t, don’t, baba, don’t.”
Thankfully, the cub turned away and resumed its plaintive calling for its family.
Sensing they were close, it soon moved on.
And, when it turned off the road towards them, Tarryn sighed in relief.
Mom to the rescue
On seeing the little one emerge nearby, the lioness went over to him to speed things along. Realising that her cub was tired and stressed, she lowered her great head and closed her jaws around its tiny head.
As she did, her cub instinctively relaxed into her care. Moments later, she lifted him up…
With that, the lioness turned and led the other two cubs away from the road. No doubt she’d soon find a new den where they could relax and feed.