The death of Cecil the Lion in July 2015 sparked intense public interest in the fate of Cecil’s pride and progeny left behind. This is the latest news:
Cecil’s pride is comprised of three lionesses and seven of his offspring of which five are females and two are males. The pride has been under the protection of a mature male, known as Bhubezi since about a year after Cecil’s demise. At eleven years old, Bhubezi is getting on in years and early in 2018 was displaced from the pride by two new males on the block. The pair, known as Humba and Netsayi, are cohort brothers – they share the same father, but have different mothers.
Their sire is Seduli who currently holds territory in the Main Camp area with his cohort brother Mopane. Humba was born in May 2013. He has a dark-tinged mane and is collared. His mother was originally a Nehimba female who split to join the Nora pride closer towards Main Camp. Netsayi, blond and uncollared, was born in December 2014 to a different female of the Nora’s. The two cohorts of cubs moved around and grew up together, and Netsayi dispersed with Humba even though he’s younger. There were originally eight cubs in the two cohorts, but many of these have been missing for some time.
As is usual, the new incoming males caused much disruption within Cecil’s pride. The three mature lionesses – Cecil’s girls – all had cubs to Bhubezi at the time, and two of these lionesses immediately took off in an effort to save their cubs. We saw them at Broken Rifle pan on the Wilderness concession, not too far from the rest of the pride, with three older cubs and two little ones. All were in great condition with bright, inquisitive eyes and full barrel-bellies. Not much beats the sight of mischievous lion cubs boisterously playing, chewing, rolling, stalking and pouncing – honing vital skills. The third lioness, a collared female known as Sisi, lost her cubs, but has already mated with the newcomers.
Cecils two young boys were immediately driven out of the pride to avoid any competition. They are almost four years old now and have tried – and managed – to stay under Bhubezi’s radar for too long. They haven’t joined anyone else yet and are sometimes still seen with their mums, sometimes near Bhubezi and have even been seen with the young Somadada boy, the only remaining male cub from Jericho’s final litter.
Cecil’s five female offspring have engaged in an orgy of familiarization and mating with Humba and Netsayi, as is usual at the takeover of a pride. There is no doubt that this will herald the start of another era of lions, and we await the birth of new cubs with eager anticipation.
