Lion Country: Cubs of Two Prides Fight for Survival | Our World

[Music] Lions the world's most iconic cats the ones that are heading for extinction with Wilderness disappearing across Africa lion numbers have almost halfed in the last 20 years their struggle to survive and thrive is more important than ever every three Cub [Music] counts one of the last refuges for this embattled species is the wildlife Haven of the luanga valley in Zambia it's here our team have followed three lion Prides for the last 6 months two huge males coming back to claim their territory through the heat of the day and in into the Hidden World of the night seeing them like this is just quite extraord me we've been right in the Lion's Den he's coming to the car everyone's still to gain a better understanding of the challenges they face we've lost some of the Cubs there so we don't know how many are still alive can the next generation of cubs make it through their most dangerous year and provide hope for the survival of the [Music] species it's October and in South luanga National Park the dry season has reached its peak daily temperatures are a scorching 45° the Lioness steps out into the heat of the day behind her three brothers three future kings if they can survive this critical first [Music] year like all lionesses their mother Ava is keeping the Cubs hidden from the world she's been separated from her Pride since they were born 6 weeks ago the Cubs were blind in their first 10 days and unable to walk now they're growing fast and starting to venture beyond the confines of their hiding [Music] place the Cub's vocal cords are strengthening they've developed a repertoire of vocalizations except the trademark Roar that comes with adulthood along with tigers lions are the only big cats that Roar the sound is louder than a jackhammer adult males use it to advertise their presence and intimidate Rivals and worryingly AA can hear roaring [Music] nearby it's two unknown males who'd kill a cub there isn't their own AA can't fight them off by herself she hides her [Music] Cubs but if these youngsters are to stay protected AA must find and rejoin her family the Hollywood Pride right now they're 3 km away [Music] the Hollywood Pride have held this territory for generations and it surrounds our filming camp Oh 20 M away with no fence between at all filmmaker Katie and specialist lion cameraman Nathan have spent the last 6 months embedded in lying country oh my goodness things happened here that you can never believe but nothing has prepared them for what will happen in the next week because conditions here have reached boiling [Music] point nearly all available water has evaporated in the heat it's only 10:30 in the morning 41° and uh it's not even the hottest point of the day which means that until the imminent rains arrive the dwindling luanga River has become a Battleground this is the source of life for the whole of langang where literally all the wildlife is is drawn here the elephants are coming down the herds of Buffalo come down the gamers come down so you find a lot more of the Predators the Lions the leopards and things like that come down this way the biggest danger for the Lions often comes from their own [Music] kind more lies are concentrated in a smaller area there's a more likely for conflict not good for our Cubs kind of a miracle that they survive at all really with everything going on yeah 5 km from Camp there's a group of females the [Music] outcasts and they've been battling to keep their two Cubs alive Brothers Prince and Ziggy are now 18 months old and living with their mother Rosa and some aunts her collar has been fitted by a research team studying carnivals with the help of her loyal sisters rose has been on the run with Prince and Ziggy since they were attacked by a roaming male lion last year they became known as the outcasts to get greater protection for her Cubs a few months ago Rosa tried to rejoin her Old Pride but the pride have been taken over by new males the punks they are not Prince and Ziggy's fathers and are therefore a threat Rosa flirting didn't go down well with the Pride's females but she's still determined to get her Cubs accepted by the punks it will increase their chances of surviving the dry season and this time she's brought reinforcements her loyal sisters will be helping [Music] the outcast females have enticed the punks away from their pride Prince and Ziggy watch from a safe distance while the sisters attempt to seduce the three males with their feminine charms the females are doing more than just flirting distraction mating is a cunning tactic by females to manipulate males mating is brief but can happen more than 50 times a day [Music] Prince and Ziggy take the chance to sneak [Music] closer but they've been spotted quick as a flash another hand puts herself between between the male and the Cubs each time the Cubs are threatened one of the scheming ants initiate [Music] mating as Darkness draws in the Hidden World of the night reveals [Music] itself and the distraction mating continues Prince and Ziggy stay [Music] nearby these are determined females matings now been going on for 18 [Music] hours at dawn Nathan finds the group by the river and it appears that the females have succeeded so we've got the outcast femals and Prince and Ziggy lying in amongst the females and two of the males here as well so it's looking more more like princ and Zig they're becoming accepted you know I think they've got a good chance now their mother Rosa seems to feel confident that they are safe with the punks so Prince and Ziggy's mom has actually gone back up the bank and left them here alone with a couple of their aunts but her confidence is misguided and it's about to get her Cubs in trouble the Punk's family appear these three females are mothers to seven young cubs earlier in the season the Young youngers survived a run in with a dangerous herd he's starting to run he's starting to run towards the Cubs and the eldest Cub pip spent 24 hours lost in the Bush dodging hyenas and leopards he needs to get back to his mother so the mothers are on high alert for dangers to their cubs and now they could see Prince and Ziggy is a threat C gone to a rather angry Outcast female what's actually quite apparent is the females are sort of growling at the others Cubs this isite the two separate subgroups they're not particularly happy with each other's Cubs at the moment the dominant female from the Punk's Pride can't hide her animosity towards Prince [Music] zigy and launches an [Music] attack Prince runs for cover but Ziggy is Frozen in place and gets a beating Prince is now all alone and right in the lioness's [Music] sights he is Frozen with no one to protect him suddenly the dominum pump inexplicably tries to protect Prince perhaps Rosa's efforts have had an effect it gives Prince the chance to run for his [Music] life so it seemed that Prince was particularly singled out and attacked and driven off and need to run off into the distance [Music] the traumatized and injured Cub gets as far away as he can having heard the commotion his mother Rosa heads off in Pursuit which leaves Ziggy trapped Ziggy's now left all by himself with the rest of the Cubs so he seems to be keeping pretty still and pretty already flat and trying not to draw any attention to himself but he's so surrounded by females that just beat up his [Music] sibling with a ziggy still in danger his loyal armt tries to diffuse the [Music] situation by Leading the Cub away from the [Music] pride and just in time the angry lioness launches again this time at another of Ziggy's [Music] [Music] aunts [Music] as the dust settles the C makes a getaway and there's Ziggy walking off over there he's walked off clearly a little bit traumatized and quite alert and looking back in the direction of the rest of the pride he's walked off a good couple hundred me to further down the beach Ziggy surrounded by danger not just from Lions hippos and crocodiles are [Music] everywhere and this is the first time in his life that Ziggy's been without his mother and brother he completely by himself and and we're not sure where Prince is at the moment [Music] [Music] I mean he could have gone off up this way as well could have gone in any direction really Prince has [Music] gone 5 km away the youngest three Cubs the Hollywoods might be in trouble Nathan's heard a report that the little ones have been attacked and in the heart of their territory he's made a disturbing Discovery so we we sat out looking for the Hollywood pride and we've come across these two young males this is the area where AA keeps her Cubs and these males are a huge risk I think unfortunately if these males came across the Hollywood Cubs and not being the fathers they would certainly try and kill them and there's evidence that one of them has recently come to blows you can see the male is actually licking scars wounds on his leg so he's certainly been in a fight Nathan sets out to search for AA and her young Trio he's hoping she's got them to safety in a small cops close to Camp he spots movement in the undergrowth oh my God [Music] Cubs I only see two but Nathan can't find the third [Music] cup actually quite distinct the third one is little spots almost like a leopard unfortunately I don't see spotty if spotty is alive he should be close to his [Music] mother [Applause] [Music] as the minutes drug [Music] by reality Dawns spotty hasn't made it unfortunately there were three of them to start with and there's only two of them now but she's done very well to keep these guys alive it's never been more important for AA to locate the rest of her pride and gain greater protection for her two remaining Cubs their best hope of survival is to join the rest of the Hollywoods but they're 5 km away I'm focused on [Music] food we've just found the Hollywoods they've come across a leopard in a tree with a kill and um we miss them steal it but it just happened they've just managed to get it off poor Leopard Leopards often take their kills up into trees to avoid them being stolen by larger carnivores like lions or [Music] hyenas this time it's seems the tree just wasn't quite high enough as she's eating it bits are falling from the trees and the lights scrapping [Music] below tempers are fraying there isn't enough food to go around with the Lions still hungry Katie hopes their search for food might bring them closer to AA and her Cubs they're the only Cubs that the Hollywoods have this year so it's really important that they're okay just to kind of secure the Next Generation so fingers crossed for the ones the temperature has now reached [Music] 50° even on the river bed large areas are nothing but [Music] dust around what remains of the water tempers flare [Music] Predator is pitted against [Music] predator and even the film crew are feeling the Heat he's coming to the car everyone's [Music] still [Music] as the day draws to a close Prince and Ziggy are still separated from their Outcast Pride we still haven't seen Prince anywhere we've searched up and down and it seems to have moved off Ziggy has stayed in the same spot all day the day's nearly come to an end the s's just setting behind us and Ziggy's completely by himself it might end up being quite a long lonely night for Ziggy with Prince not here and having to keep his distance from the rest of the pride being on his own food as is biggest problem but there are a number of other things possibly other males passing through the territory hyenas elephants Buffalo when there's water right next to him does have to be careful about crocodiles there's no guarantees what's ahead as night falls Ziggy is without his pride but he's not alone [Music] over 6,000 hippos live in luanga it's one of the world's largest concentrations with almost 50 animals per kilometer of river although they stay in and around water through throughout the day the vegetarians Venture onto land at night to [Music] feed the largest males eating up to 60 kilos of fodder a day every hippo sees a lion as a threat so ziggies is keeping a low profile his only hope is to rejoin his family but they are nowhere to be seen Ziggy is facing the longest night of his [Music] life come 500 a.m. Nathan's Keen to find out what happened to the [Applause] Cub so we're just looking in the area where we left Ziggy last night and um there's a lot of tracks up and down up and down he's been here a lot you can actually see him up ahead over here looks like just Ziggy Alone by himself no Prince so uh where Prince is remains to be seen Ziggy hasn't moved he's no doubt getting hungry and Nathan's seen that the Punk's Pride may have a kill not far away I think they're on a kill couple hundred meters from here he's looking in that direction but he's not making any attempt to to move in that direction with the threat of being attacked the Cub won't risk venturing any closer he knows it's not a good idea to go over [Laughter] there Ziggy needs to move somewhere safer but he's too nervous to leave [Music] over a kilometer away Ziggy's mother Rosa with one of the punk males in tow is searching for her lost cups when she set off in pursuit of Prince Ziggy was still with the pride so now she has no idea where either of her Cubs are of equal concern is whether single mother AA has managed to keep spotty's two brothers alive and managed to meet up with the Hollywood Pride vultures are circling close to Camp a a sign of a kill well inside Hollywood territory this Buffalo kill is not that far from where the Cubs have been kept so we're hoping to actually spot if Mom and the Cubs are here or not some very fat bellies ah they're here the Cubs are here they're looking great they've literally been introduced to the rest of the pride now such a lovely moment getting to know their extended family is an exciting time for the Cubs they've grown up hidden in a bush so this is quite a new new Noy for them a bit of exploring all these new faces the pride isn't used to playing with little [Music] cubs it looks like a lot of the young aunties are very inquisitive about the Cubs fortunately they're quite [Music] rough but the Cs are certainly giving their best back and a little bit of sing and and swiping lions are a highly social species and the bonds built in the pride are an essential part of the Cub's future it's been a successful introduction and living with the pride will bring the Extra Protection the little ones need from Rogue males with temperature soaring the pride retires to the shade choosing to abandon the [Music] kill well most of them [Music] do it's quite funny this this male basically refuses to give up his kill [Music] so this male goes off into the shade couple of vultures land on runs back out chases [Music] them walks back to the shade vultures come runs back chases [Music] them so this is like an ongoing event there's hardly any meat left you wonder if it's really worth it in this blazing [Music] sun it often forc to the males in the pride to guard a kill it seems this young one is just a little overzealous although the Hollywood Cubs are now far safer in the body of the pride a across Africa only one in five Cubs makes it beyond the age of two with attacks by their own species being the greatest threat to their [Music] existence worryingly after hours of searching Rosa still hasn't found either Prince or Ziggy but as she enters an ebony Grove with one of the punks in tow the PE seemed to catch a scent something makes the male hang back while Rosa is drawn to a [Music] gully it's Prince her [Music] cub the ferocity of the attack on the beach was too much for Prince's young body [Music] when you see the CB that could grow up to something big and beautiful kind of face down in the mud it's very sad to [Music] see roses gamble to get her Cubs accepted has [Music] failed I mean we we really have to try and stay emotionally detached from who we're following but you can't help it I mean we've always always been really hoping that uh Prince and Ziggy would make it and unfortunately prince prince didn't Rosa stays in the eony Grove near Prince's [Music] body while Ziggy Rosen last remaining Cub faces the prospect of Another Night Alone with Prince having died now it is going to be incredibly tough for Ziggy to survive on his own there's every chance Ziggy will meet the same fate as his brother and now his hiding plac has become unsafe Ziggy's chances of making it to the end of the dry season are diminishing by the hour the punk Cubs that Prince was killed to protect are just a few hundred met up the river usually a Pride's females share the rearing of their cubs as a group they can defend them more successfully but today not all the mothers are around so on the other side of the river uh there's one female she's actually been left with all the Cubs so she's got five bigger Cubs and the two smaller Cubs and they're all running up and down playing all over the place having crossed over to Feast on a buffalo in the night young Cub pip and his six siblings have ended up in a rival Pride's [Music] territory although they seem oblivious to any threat and a running Riot around the lone female I can only imagine that she's quite irritated and wants to get back this side of the river and hand them over to their mothers with dusk approaching the Lioness either risks a long night in enemy territory or she and the Cubs have to recross the luanga luanga river is notorious for being one of the densest populations of crocodiles and hippos of pretty much any River in [Applause] [Music] Africa these Cubs are the future of their [Music] pride now all seven of them face running the gone let of crocodiles and hippos but help is at hand the rest of the the Pride's females appear on a sandbank halfway across the river whether it's safe or not they're going [Applause] the presence of the lionesses seems to deter the crocodiles from attacking [Music] but a bigger angrier problem is coming their way a three-ton hippo determined to defend his stretch of [Music] sand The Pride spread [Music] out the hippo realizes the tables are turning and he's surrounded pip and his siblings are [Music] [Music] safe [Music] it's been 6 hours since Rosa discovered Prince's body and she stayed with [Music] him she's s staring off into the distance in the direction where um Prince's body is it's thought when a cub dies a lioness suffers high levels of stress [Music] she seems to be mourning she's cly very sort of subdued quiet not even hunting andar have walk literally right on top of [Music] her if her other Cub is to survive Rosa needs to move [Music] on she needs to find [Music] Ziggy come Nightfall Rosa continues to grieve while all around her animals go about their nocturnal routines eating sleeping and hunting a leopard's night vision is up to seven times more sensitive than a human's and its hearing is five times more acute helping it pinpoint a guinea foul in the dark mass of a fig [Music] tree it's a short highly efficient hunt although a guinea fowl isn't much of a meal and it's one even a leopard needs to pluck first back in the ebony Grove Rosa is beginning to [Music] stir and shortly before Dawn she moves [Music] off for hours she retraces her [Music] steps visiting old haunts of the [Music] outcasts Ziggy hasn't eaten for 4 days and is too young to hunt for himself without his mother he'll starve in the heart of Hollywood territory the Gully by Camp holds the only remaining water other than the luanga river and the pride have decided it's safe enough to bring their youngest two members not only all the lions still here but mom and her Cubs have also come down it appears the pride have bonded with them for good which means in addition to their mother the Cubs now have 10 aunts watching out for them the females in Lion Pi have this incredibly strong bond when they will do everything to protect their cops they're built to try and keep the Next Generation going that's in their DNA it's running through their [Music] blood the Hollywood Cubs are safe but there's one other youngster that Nathan is desperate to find before the rains [Music] arrive after hours of searching for Ziggy he spots a trio of lions Sheltering under a bush and one of them looks to be a young male it's this one here the second one looking a little bit smaller and spots on the legs and the familiar face pops up this is Ziggy here it's fantastic Nathan's delighted to find Ziggy with his mother he's looking in good condition Mom's here yeah it's great news for him Rosa and one loyal Aunt have retreated from the Punk's Pride outcasts once small they'll provide food for him and give him a good chance to get big enough to get experienced enough to survive on his [Music] own he certainly seems to have been quite a fighter he keeps coming back so I mean he certainly got the determination I think to survive [Music] in a year's time Ziggy will be ready to strike out on his own but for now his family are looking out for each [Music] other the weather begins to turn it's amazing we've just been sat here watching and almost this the most sudden feeling of coolness and that smell of rain have just started the dry season is over and at last the pressure cooker atmosphere is [Music] diffused and the one wildli can spread out far and wide once [Music] more all but two of our Cubs made it through their most dangerous [Music] year so with luck and some determined parenting one day these little Fighters will be the kings and queens of luanga [Music] [Music]

Channel: Our World

Views: 568,276

Keywords: wildlife, wildlife documentary, natural history, earth, environment, documentary, documentaries, animals, nature, animal documentary, full documentary, nature documentary, planet earth, our world, wild animals, global warming, climate change, natural habitats, our planet, Lion Country, young cubs, young lions, lions, Lions, Lioness, Cubs, cubs, lioness, lion country, lion documentary, lions documentary, documentary about lions

Id: scrVNWlB_iY

Length: 51min 50sec (3110 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 03 2023