Besides genetic isolation, this is the premier conflict facing Ngorongoro’s lions. The Maasai no longer hunt lions to prove their manhood, but in retaliation and to prevent attacks on livestock. “If the rest of the pride finds the cub, it is likely it would be killed.” ![]() “Lions have very rich, complicated social relationships in which they recognise individuals by sight and by roars and so they are very well equipped to distinguish their cubs from others,” says Hunter. JoopVanDerLinde/Panthera and KopeLion/Ndutu Lodge “It is very unlikely that the lioness’ pride will accept it.” ![]() “Even if she continues to foster the cub, the obstacles to its survival are, sadly, formidable,” he says. Hunter doesn’t think the odds are in the leopard cub’s favour, however. “It is quite possible she lost her own cubs, and found the leopard cub in her bereaved state when she would be particularly vulnerable.” ![]() “Even so, there has never been another case like it, and why it has occurred now is mystifying,” says Hunter. “She would not be nursing the cub if she wasn’t already awash with a ferocious maternal drive,” says Hunter. The leopard cub is almost exactly the age as her cubs and physically very similar. The mother lion, named Nosikitok by KopeLion’s Maasai lion scouts, is thought to have given birth to her second litter of cubs in mid to late June, although they are no longer with her.
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