Lions are known as the kings of the prairie, and they are also the only cat species that live in groups. The lionesses in a pride live together, hunting together and raising their cubs together. But have you ever wondered if the lioness can feed her cubs alone without the pride? The answer is yes, but the process is very difficult.
It is quite common for lionesses to take their children alone on the grasslands. When the new lion king drives away or kills the old lion king, the blood of the previous lion king will be removed. Because the lioness who loses the lion cub will enter the estrus state, so as to mate with the new lion king, and give birth to the new lion king's own bloodline. Before the lion cub is killed, the lioness will fight the intruder together with the old lion king in order to protect the cub. Even when the old lion has run away or died, the mother lion will still attack the male lions who have become new kings for the sake of their babies.
Sometimes a lioness who resists especially fiercely is even killed by a male lion. When the lion cubs are very young, their mobility is very weak, and they will easily die if they lose the protection of their mothers. Some lionesses will choose to leave the pride with the cubs who have passed the mobility test before the male lion kills them. This forms a stray lioness with her own children. How difficult is it to grow up with a lion cub who only relies on its mother and has no lion protection? What problems do they face?
1. Easier to starve to death
Before the age of 1, lion cubs are completely dependent on their mother for food. When the prey is plentiful, a mother lion with a baby alone will not starve her baby. On the contrary, she generally takes good care of the children, because the prey she catches will not have as many lions to eat. However, as the seasons change, once the prey decreases, the mother lion will encounter great challenges in hunting. Because of the lack of collaborators, it will be more difficult for her to capture those herbivores that are all super runners or larger. Occasionally, the mother lion has to give up her prey to other lions or hyenas who come to grab it.
2. Easier to be killed by other animals
When the mother lion goes hunting, the lion cubs left at home are in great danger. On the African grasslands, packs of hyenas, wild dogs, and other lions pose a threat to lion cubs. Sometimes even when the mother lion is around, the safety of the cubs cannot be fully guaranteed when facing these powerful opponents. Without the protection of the lions, the lion cubs will face more danger.
3. It is difficult to improve hunting skills
When a group of lions has a large number of members, the play between the cubs and between the cubs and the big lion is very beneficial to exercise the hunting ability and muscle strength of the cubs. If there are only one or two lion cubs left, they will lose many "practice" opportunities, which is not conducive to the development of their bodies and the growth of hunting skills. Once they need to hunt, they are likely to starve because their hunting skills are not good enough.
Relying on the strength of a lion mother alone, it is difficult to raise a lion cub to adulthood. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of themselves and their children, the mother lion will also live together with other lionesses who live alone, and then gradually grow the team. In the African grasslands, many animals live a collective life, and only a huge animal family can remain invincible for a long time.
