LION MALES Have to Fight for Their Lives! | The Lion Whisperer - video Dailymotion

The Lion Whisperer

LION Males Have to Fight for Their Lives! It&#039;s often said Lion Males are lazy. They let the lionesses do all the work. But what we see on safari is only a snapshot of the lives of lions in the wild. In this Lion Whisperer episode, Kevin Richardson goes for an enrichment walk with Rescued Lion Brothers George and Yame and talks us through the life of a male lion, from beginning to end. #cat #lion #wildlife   Become a member of LionWhispererTV today and receive exclusive videos and content! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_NS4MiiHAFo3CYI7fRSLtQ/join  New video every Friday at 4:00 PM GMT - Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_NS4MiiHAFo3CYI7fRSLtQ?sub_confirmation=1  Purchase your Lion Whisperer Merch now: https://thelionwhispererclothing.com/  Connect with us: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LionWhispererSA Instagram: http://instagram.com/lionwhisperersa Website: http://www.lionwhisperer.co.za  LionWhispererTV aim is to raise awareness about The Kevin Richardson Wildlife Sanctuary.

Transcript

00:01Very cute. Everyone thinks you're cute.

00:08We're still good. Love you very much. Don't fall in. Georgie, don't tear my new pants.

00:19All right, super good morning to everyone. Today I'm going to be taking George and Yame out for a

00:25much deserved enrichment walk. Today's topic, guys, is something that I've been reading up on

00:32or getting a lot of commentary on. Male lions have an easy life. They're lazy and they do nothing.

00:39So today I just wanted to write that sentiment by just enlightening you guys to

00:47what you don't see. All we really see when we when we see male lions on documentary is basically a

00:57snippet, literally a little snapshot of a lion's life. And I just wanted to take you behind the

01:06scenes of what actually goes on in the lion pride from birth all the way up until adult male lion

01:15passes away. So if you are curious to know what goes on, then stick around. Today's going to be

01:22the right video for you to watch. Hello, my boys. Yes. Oh, whoa, whoa. Are we excited? Yes, we are.

01:33Yes, we are. Okay, but I've got a lot of stuff to do today. All right. So I want you

01:40to behave.

01:42Are you going to behave? Are you going to behave? You look lucky in good moods. One, two, three.

01:52Hello, my boy. Oh, yes. Oh, yes, my boy. Yes, you've been very loving today. Hey, thank you.

02:02Oh, and you. Okay, just wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Guys, it's quite funny because I've been droning. Hello, my

02:15boy.

02:16Oh, my boy. They've been waiting for me. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. Okay, okay, okay,

02:26okay, okay, okay, okay.

02:27I can see you in a very playful mood today, my boy. Massively playful mood. Very cute.

02:36Everyone thinks you're cute. You are cute for a 12-year-old lion. Look at you.

02:49Go, silly. Run. Run, silly. Your brother's getting away from you. That's nice.

02:57Yeah, that's going to be beautiful. Don't fall in.

03:08Balance is everything.

03:17Nice, Georgie. You're doing a good job. You are. I know it's hard for you because you don't have all

03:25the

03:25integrity in your hindquarters, but you are George. Be like George. Look at that, guys.

03:36Sorry about the camera shadow, but it is what it is.

03:38Nice. Move.

03:55Big butt. All right. The life of a male lion. I hear it all the time.

04:02Oh, it must be so wonderful being a male lion. Like Yammer, Yammer do. Look at him. He's beautiful.

04:14He's big. He's good looking. Everyone's scared of him. And he loves the life of Riley. He really just

04:24lasers about. He gets to chase the hard-working girls off their food and eat it. Eat prime

04:35choices of meat and get to mate. Oh, and lie around all day. I think what documentaries have done in

04:45the past

04:46and certain animations is they've portrayed the lion like that. And they've taken little snippets or

04:57little kind of pieces of a lion's life. So we've just taken like a freeze frame

05:05and we've kind of, you know, portrayed that for so long that people believe that that is,

05:12you know, if you're born a male lion, you're born lucky. Um, you're born into this kingdom,

05:18it's royalty, this succession. It's easy as pie. I'm not picking on lionesses, guys.

05:26I don't think the job of a lioness is easy. I think they just both are presented with their own

05:33challenges because they are animals living in the wild. But I want to set the record straight because

05:41it's not happy homes and gardens and easy, easy, an easy ride for a male lion. And let me explain

05:48why.

05:49Lions generally or lionesses generally have between one and five cubs in a litter.

06:00The average is four. So for purposes of this conversation, let's say that out of those four

06:08cubs and this is what happens is it's a 50-50 sex ratio. So in other words, there's two male

06:16lion cubs

06:18and two lionesses being born to a litter. So 50-50 ratio. If you've looked at lions in the wild,

06:32as I have, and I'm sure many of you who follow this channel have too, you will notice that the

06:38ratio is

06:39very different. It's more like one lion to let's say four to five lionesses. The average is about four.

06:49So one to four. But hold on a moment. They born 50-50. So why, why is that? How can

06:57that be?

06:58And there are several reasons for why there are fewer male lions at adulthood.

07:05Lion cubs have equal opportunity in the first two years of their life. So year zero to year one,

07:16they are really suckling on mom. Moms, you know, towards the end of the year, as they get their teeth,

07:23they're starting to nibble on some food, some meat. But they are getting the protection and the

07:30nutrition from mom. And then even some of the little naughty guys and girls, when they are over one,

07:37will try and get some mother's milk, even as old as I've seen some 16-month-old lion cubs trying

07:46to

07:47suckle because it's free food. I mean, you know, why not? But the critical juncture in a lion's life is

07:56when they hit that two to three year period. Now things start to get a little bit tougher for

08:04that young male lion and I'll tell you why. Now dad starts to see that his sons are starting to,

08:11you know, come into sexual maturity, gone past puberty and they're starting to become sexually mature.

08:20That worries dad because it means that his sons or nephews can potentially breed and this is a no-no.

08:33So what a male lion, an adult male lion will do is he will start to pressure those youngsters

08:40at the age of about two and a half, three and he'll start to push them out. And sometimes,

08:48not always, but sometimes it can be quite violent and there can be mortality. So already we're seeing an

08:58increase in the mortality of young male lions at this age. But when they get ousted by dad,

09:13they literally either need to move off or face the consequences. And there's also something else

09:23that can happen which is dad gets ousted by younger, fitter, stronger males coming into the pride and

09:33taking over that pride in particular. So if it's dad staying on for another round or, you know, another

09:42season of breeding and he's fit enough and strong enough because he's a young dad, then for sure he's

09:49going to get rid of those males when they are at an age where he is stronger than them. He

09:55doesn't want

09:55to wait until they are equal to him in strength because then if it's him on his own, he has

10:03a major

10:03problem. Because let's say George and Yami are brothers, which they are, and they got to an age where

10:10they felt they can take on dad, then they would be the ones kicking dad out. And that's not good

10:15for a

10:15lion pride because obviously then we've got these young males breeding or inbreeding. So breeding with their

10:23moms, breeding with their sisters. We don't want that. Nature doesn't want that. It's not we don't want that.

10:37Look where he comes up. I just love the way he keeps on coming up to me to head bump

10:43me to reaffirm

10:45our brotherhood. I love that about Yam. He's just continuously saying, hey Kev, what's up bro? We're still good.

10:58We're still good. We are good my buddy. We are good. We are good. Love you very much. So male

11:08lions have

11:09been ousted. They're between the age of two and three.

11:19Now they are what we refer to as nomadic male lions. The lionesses stay with the pride.

11:27They've still got that protection of the pride, the ability to lean on the pride. So even if you've got

11:34a

11:35little injury, you know, porcupine quill in the paw, I don't know why that came into my head but let's

11:41say

11:41very possible and you are limping along. You can't actively participate in the hunts but you can keep

11:47up with the pride. No problemo. The pride will gladly support you as you recover from your injury. But

11:55a young male lion out there on his own as a nomad better hope to hell that he has a

12:03brother or a cousin

12:05to go along with because let's say two is better than one and three is better than two. So you

12:14can only

12:15hope that you can go off into the wilderness with your brothers and cousins and or if you are a

12:23singleton

12:25so if you are ousted from a pride as a male and you there wandering the plains of Africa on

12:31your own

12:32you can only pray that you meet a male lion of a similar age that you can bond with and

12:40become a

12:40coalition. That also happens. But in that period when you are between the ages of 24 months and 48

12:49months when you start to become a big male okay you are extremely vulnerable guys everything out there

12:58is trying to get rid of you because if you're wandering tentatively and cautiously

13:05across the savannahs into other lion territories those male lions are going to be going hey buddy

13:13we certainly don't want you in here get the hell out so they're going to be they're going to be

13:19chasing

13:19you um like there's no tomorrow and if they catch you they're going to kill you um lionesses

13:27or prides are equally not as in or as welcoming of young male lions so those young male lions

13:35have to be careful of other lion prides too. Hyenas don't like them so hyenas are always trying to

13:43ward them off and guys they are having to hunt for themselves so they're not

13:48the most astute hunters yet because they are only young they're still youngsters so it's um a tricky age

13:58they got to they they're now vulnerable they've left the pride the support structure of that lovely

14:04pride that's given them safety and comfort and security and now they're on their own in the wilderness

14:11hunting on their own fending for themselves all the while trying to stay injury free to become the

14:18strongest version of themselves so that they too could take over a pride one day because that's

14:24the name of the game and so during that phase two to four years of age there is a massive

14:34amount of

14:35mortality and so we see the numbers drop off and male lions fall by the wayside and those that make

14:43it to

14:43fall um those are your either very lucky ones or the tenacious ones the strong ones the georges

14:55and yames of the world yeah the guys that can now wander around the savannah marking their territory

15:07and roaming around looking for a pride of their own and so what they would be doing is these males

15:16would

15:16be doing exactly what georgia and yame are doing today is they would be cruising around smelling

15:23and sniffing and marking and marking over other males and getting closer and closer

15:30and checking out the the male that has tenure of the pride that they are interested in and looking

15:37there and seeing for the weaknesses and then when the day is right when the time comes then georgia and

15:44yame will make an attempt at a takeover and they will you know rush in and try and intimidate that

15:53male

15:53lion to leaving that pride because they actually truth be known they don't want to

15:59engage in warfare because that means they could get injured and an injured lion is really problematic

16:07in the wild because an injured lion can't hunt and if you are like these males are having to provide

16:15for yourself you've just made your life that much more difficult and that's why when you see these boys

16:26which is what he's doing now there's three lions in this pride here's one of them there's a bipedal version

16:35called kevin and then there's this boy beautiful yum yum yum yum stunning specimen yes he is yes he is

16:47he's a very stunning lion

16:52he is a very gorgeous boy and then there's our other brother georgie and we make up a pride of

17:00three so

17:02beware lions out there you don't stand a hope a chance in hell if you came up against georgia me

17:11and me we would

17:11chase you off your pride and take your woman and get rid of your children no i'm joking okay

17:19we have far too much compassion for that but that's what the lions would do and um so they're biding

17:25their time they're biding their time they then decide this is the day they go in and they chase away

17:31this male and he doesn't put up a fight let's say but they are like high five high five but

17:38it doesn't end

17:38there guys the females are not welcoming they don't just go hey what's your names uh brad pitt and tom

17:45cruz we love you we like you guys our our men were getting old anyway they were like a robert

17:51de niro and

17:51an old pacino they passed their sell-by date we're so glad to see the back end of them the

17:57girls don't

17:57do that they fight like crazy they don't want this upset in their pride so they um resist and they

18:07tuck into these new males and injury can occur there too

18:14so now they've got this pride the females have eventually settled down

18:19and um georgia nyame are now able to engage in mating so they have this real instinctive want

18:30and will to protect their pride at all costs and now they are the ones that are fending off

18:37the the newbies the new challenges that are coming and marauding and circling and just wanting to

18:43have tenure over that pride and so um this is at the age of about five or six that they

18:51are able to take on

18:53that pride of their own so they can remain a nomad for three years guys so don't tell me lions

18:59male lions

19:00don't know how to hunt because for three years they have been doing the hunting

19:11then it does get to a point when these guys are weather beaten ragged and tired and

19:20there is this opportunity for the male uh younger male to come

19:25in and take them on challenge them and get rid of them and that is then the changing of the

19:32god yet

19:33again just thinking now about this life of a male so once he has tenure over a pride then there

19:40is a

19:40period guys where there is peace and a little bit of bliss and this is the insight that we see

19:47this is the snapshot of a lion's life that we see and this is what we see on documentaries where

19:54we see

19:55these big male lions and they are feasting on big carcasses chasing the females off who have done all

20:01the hard work in catching the animal and having sex and sleeping and this is why we have this whole

20:09misconception that male lions are um you know have it easy okay so there's a male lion doing what a

20:18male

20:19lion would do he's busy telling those hyenas to stay away and uh that's important because that happens

20:27in the wild and there's his brother coming to support him and notice they don't really care about the

20:33leopards two black leopards you can con looking on male lions don't really see them as a threat

20:40they see these hyenas as a threat okay nine years comes eventually your time has come the new guy the

20:51new kid on the block kicks you out the the new brad pit he says sorry mr hunky yummy and

20:58let me tell you

20:59something yummy looks like a six year old male lion because he's had such a good life with all the

21:07best nutrition

21:12and all the love and care and when he's kicked out he's on his own again he's back to being

21:20a bachelor

21:20and you know his brother could have been killed in the ousting or let's say he's lucky enough to

21:28have his brother still after three years of hard fighting sometimes within those three years one of

21:34the pride males gets killed george and yummy might not make it through to nine they'd be very lucky

21:41to both land up being nine years old and ousted and then back on the road again as bachelor

21:52male lions except there's a big difference now guys and if you've stayed this long

21:58listening to me drone on about a male lion's life you're going to definitely stay to the end i hope

22:05um because yeah then it's really tough for a nine-year-old male lion to go hunting on his own

22:13he

22:13doesn't have the support structure of the pride he's a lot um less um pliable and able than he was

22:21in his

22:22youth and so hunting becomes quite the challenge for this male lion that once was able to mark his territory

22:31at will like yummy and many of them just wither by the wayside pretty quickly after their time

22:46in the pride has come to an end and that's quite sad sometimes if they're lucky the the the the

22:53males

22:54that have taken over the pride sometimes it does happen that they allow them to hang around on the on

23:00the fringes um and scavenge off the pride the pride that they once had leadership over it's crazy hey

23:10who lives on my boy yeah it's crazy there we have it guys the the life of a male lion

23:18isn't it wonderful

23:21um so the next time you see mr big that beautiful specimen walking

23:31in the wild in the wild in his prime just spare a thought for what he's been through

23:39and spare a thought of what he still has to go through

23:42um it's not easy being a male lion in the wild

24:04so

24:05and

24:15and

LION MALES Have to Fight for Their Lives! | The Lion Whisperer

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