Raising children is a particularly demanding experience for any mammal, and having several little lion cubs to look after only proves the rule. Even when not under threat, they are unruly, playful and chaotic.
Hannes Joubert filmed this lion family at the Manyaleti Nature Reserve, as they cavorted, relaxed, and fed, with the rapidly growing little cubs testing the patience of the lionesses minding them.
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A Lazy Day
For most people, spending relaxed time with family or loved ones is a pretty perfect way to spend a few hours. Kids love lazy mornings with their parents just as much, and these lion cubs were having a great time.
With two adult lionesses to supervise them, it looked like these cubs were being a nuisance as much as they were being cute, clambering over each other with no concept of personal space.
There were at least five lounging lion cubs getting in each other’s way and falling over each other, often into the lionesses, but they made up for it with the occasional affectionate head bump.
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Hungry Cubs
Five cubs made this a big litter, assuming it was one single litter of cubs and not multiple litters that had been born around the same time, but all of these little lions were also exceptionally young, as they’d not yet moved on to solid food.
One of the reasons for these cubs scrambling around because they were hungry, and, as they were still reliant on their mother for milk, they all needed to squeeze into place so that they could feed.
Most of the cubs seemed to gravitate towards a single female, but one of them did try with a second lioness, which would suggest that either there were multiple litters with multiple mothers producing milk, or that lion cub was just a little confused.
Still Learning About The World
It takes just under a year for lion cubs to be completely weaned off their mother’s milk, and even longer again for them to learn to effectively hunt for themselves. That these cubs were still squabbling over who lay where when they fed suggested they were very young.
One enterprising cub nibbled on a leaf sticking out of the underbrush before rapidly changing its mind and heading back to the lioness. She meanwhile caused a minor panic in the cubs by rolling onto her side so she could be more comfortable.
The sudden movement took them by surprise and they had to reshuffle themselves to keep in the same position she’d been in before the unexpected roll.
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Completely At Ease
One day, these cubs would grow up to become apex predators like their parents. Many of them would be deadly hunters, ambushing and bringing down prey for themselves and their fellow lions in the pride.
At this point, though, they were hungry little balls of energy, lying peacefully in the grass and eagerly having their dinner. Safe with the two adult lionesses to watch over them, their lives were plentiful and good.