We had a bit of a shock when we visited the Mambira Pack den site a few days ago and found our camera trap bitten, broken and covered in salivary mud. It could only mean one thing…. LIONS!
Fortunately the camera had still been working at the time and we could extract the SD card. These were the last photos on the card………
Fortunately however, when we had first arrived at the den, we had seen both pups and all five adults, so it looks like the lions failed to get any dogs. Whew!!
It’s still a bit worrying that the pack only has two pups, but ever since they first emerged from the den there have only been two. It may just be that this first time mother only had two pups to start with, or else something happened to the rest of the litter in the first three weeks of their life. We’ll never know about that, but at least we do know that both remaining pups survived this lion visit, so just maybe they will do okay after all.
2 Comments
Hello,
Do Wild Dogs ever kill lions? I have heard that large packs have been known to attack and killed old lions or injured lions, or cubs.
Hi Hammad,
Nothing is ever impossible in nature and certainly there is an innate inter-specific competitiveness between all carnivores so that may well have happened. Certainly it is not a common event though, and I have never witnessed or seen evidence of it here. But yes, it’s certainly possible.
Cheers,
Rosemary