Wildearth's Djuma Cam Chat - Sunday 30 December 2007

Bumping this up.

Just a thought about the Mapogos and the Styx pride. Just a couple of weeks ago the old female with the pride had cubs and she was with the Rollercoaster male so I presume they are his cubs. This past week all 7 females were seen at Mala Mala with no mention of the cubs. I hope the Styx girls don't have a year like last when they lost every single one of their cubs.

That would be very sad Aquila...how many are there total in Dozies pride now?

Do you have sound at NK.... 

No sound at NK. Not sure how many cubs there are in Nkuhuma pride now. In excess of 16 and probably closer to 20. 9 adult lionesses.

Posting this again from earlier today. Hoping the discussion of the Nkuhuma/Mapogos will come back to this thread and out of the NK/EP thread. LOL

Okay, here is what I heard Rexon say on the evening drive:

Amazing, looks like in the area the lions are all over, it's a male lion calling in the east of one of our neighbor farms, very close to the cutline, Sandy Patch area. That could be the Nkuhuma pride. I know what this means that it means might be challenging the Mapogo which is asking I mean if it's a male he's asking himself a Big problem because once the Mapogos respond in ? definitely they are going to kill that male. Also, if it is a female that is calling from the Nkuhuma pride that will also invite the Mapogo males to head north to investigate who is calling from that area.

If they all reach maturity ( and it sounds like none of them will...sadness) that would be an awful lot of mature lions in that area....I wonder if they could be sustained in those numbers?

Thanks for that info Aquila. So, Dozie? is the only remaining male with the Nkuhuma girls and cubs?

Yes Ingwe and Dozie is the younger and smaller of the two brothers with the other being the one killed.

Ex, I suppose they could break up into smaller groups if all those cubs survive. The males will eventually go out on their own and sometimes females also leave the pride.

Thanks Aquila, it will be very interesting to see how all this pans out. If the Mapogo's spread themselves out too widely it will be difficult for them to defend their own offspring in the future...

I have a soft spot for the Styx girls too - I do hope their cubs are okay

I'm curious to know if the Mapogo's have cubs in the area...they seem to cover a large area...how can they protect young if they cover that large of an area?

Baboons calling at Gowrie 1.39am

That's why such large coalitions are rare.  They can't defend all their young and fewer surviving offspring is the end result.  It is wonderful that we can watch all this unfolding in front of us - much better than a documentary I think.

It's fascinating all the checks and balances in nature Ingwe.  This year seems to be a very good year for off-spring...ie treble the number of wildies at NK and the Impala populations have skyrocketed.  Very interesting to watch as it all happens.

 .... and because of all the babies it will be good for the predators too.  I agree with you - it is absolutely fascinating. I am so happy that we are able to peek in on all of this and share it

Two critters at the back of wh...hippos or buffs?

maxx- just opened the program and saw the new photos of rexon and pieter!  how festive!  LOL!!!

edited:  new blog posting by haley- http://wildearth-media.blogspot.com/

The Madd Hatter strikes again.... (insert evil laugh here)......

good job then, madd hatter!

Did anyone else see those critters just now?

Haha!  Nice job Maxx!

I saw them but couldn't make out what they were, looked like four of something. Maybe implala? I just couldn't tell for sure.

II saw them. Four? One bigger? Don't know what they are though.

I saw four also. They were light in color.  Darn, I was hoping cats.

Hehe, I thought cats when I saw the first one too and was hoping it was.

I think there's a guck on the water with something very small beside it.

I think I see what you are talking about but not sure, it could be. If I enlarge my picture it gets so distorted it is hard to tell anything and pixels jump all over the place.

Hello Everyone.....Good luck connecting to the drive.....I just logged on and got connected.....Not a good sign for me lol....Usually means I am under the tree....

Dump occurred....I missed the landie and am sitting next to the tree

Heading under the tree here, too...