Lions - The Whole Story 3/13 - Go Wild

[Music] hello i am [Music] lord of all he surveys africa's king of the beasts [Music] a study in strength a supercharged hunting beast the most symbolic ever commanding beauty and steely-eyed power nothing else quite says africa like a [Music] lion the lion has long been called king of the beasts but there was a time when other animals disputed his right to rule the antelope claimed they should as they were swift as the wind [Music] the elephant trumpeted his challenge saying i am wisest and stronger than you i can crush you underfoot the baboon too demanded to be king his agility and cunning gave him the right he said and yet another the eagle staked his claim because he had the power of flight [Music] but the lion just prowled his kingdom looking regal ignoring their rebellious demand and the antelope fled before him the elephant became nervous and retreated the baboon shot up the nearest tree and the eagles soared far out of reach none could challenge the lion's supremacy he knew it was just words not one had the courage to be king lions are big cats the record holder died in south africa in 1936 a man eater as heavy as five adult humans only the tiger is a bigger cat an average male is an impressive monarch standing one and a quarter meters at the shoulder his weight perhaps that of three grown people lions see very well and six times better than us at night they look out from large golden eyes with binocular vision good at calculating distance and separating prey from background alliance whiskers are very sensitive antennae and the pattern of spots where they sprout is as unique to each cat as a human fingerprint [Music] a lion is a study in controlled power everything about it says strength from fangs cleaned with the toothbrush of the hide and bone ignores to short jaws capable of a crushing bite africa's top carnivore has immensely powerful neck and jaws its real strength lies there and in its four quarters enabling it to drag dead weights much heavier than itself lions tuck their claws away in special pockets when they're not using them these spring-loaded switch blades need to be sheaved to save wear and tear especially when padding around their kingdom [Music] young cubs are spotty creatures spots fade gradually but sometimes just a ghost of them remains their coloration helps hide them when they're young and small and vulnerable just very rarely a white lion is born it's not an albino but a lion with a faulty gene so it lacks the usual color in its hair shafts it may have had white or tawny parents this ethereal looking animal has yellow eyes and a black nose not albino pink [Music] the great hallmark of a male is his mane testosterone controls the growth of this magnificent ruff which advertises his status and protects his neck but it's a nuisance in bushy country stress can make a lion lose handfuls of mane but this one's having a bad hair day for a different reason it's not a he it's a she a female overdosed with testosterone an odd girl out very close to being an it and not known to have mated all lions including india's few belong to exactly the same species there are no subspecies to this part of the cat [Music] family a pride of lions is so familiar it's easy to forget it's something very special because lions are the only cats that live in a group and it's the key to their success the pride is almost entirely a sisterhood of closely or distantly related females the females are usually in a pride for life but not males they are evicted at about three years and can have a very tough time of it after that the only full-grown males tolerated around the pride are the temporary reigning monarchs they're in a closely bonded coalition usually of two or three any fewer than that and they couldn't take over a pride to get access to the females and mate the males are kept on their toes when the females are on heat mating is their reward for providing an armed guard to protect females and cubs against other coalitions who will kill cubs if they take over once a male has laid claim to a female his allies usually keep a respectful distance but not always sometimes a male coalition has territories which encompass those of several prides this big male has one overlapping the border of botswana and namibia he strides around it confidently watching for rivals who might slip in and try to mate with the females under his protection he checks the air for those telltale female scents the ones that say they're on heat [Music] beefy mussels and a splendid mane are his status symbols but he's like a weightlifter who sacrificed speed for strength he's slower off the mark than the sleek females he seeks to impress not that that troubles them mane and muscles indicate he's a survivor despite his handicaps good breeding blood flows in those kingly veins and when she chooses the lioness shows willing to mingle it with hers and the male dutifully picks up his kill a ruling male is likely to have a short reign usually just two years so he must make the most of it and mate often whenever the chance arises for about six days he sticks to her like glue and throughout the day every 20 minutes or so between rests they mate the need to do so is a real slave driver even at nightfall there's no let up his sperm count probably drops to zero not that he'd know he won't quit until she's out of estrus and stops soliciting there's no other way to try and make sure her colors are his a female is pregnant three and a half months longer than any other cat as the safety of her newborn is paramount she gives birth in hiding [Music] she moves her cubs from den to den for their first six weeks and only leaves to hunt and eat while she's away there's no one to watch over them [Music] her bundles of fluff are now old enough to join the pride where there's not just mum to keep an eye on them [Music] in a close unit like the pride lionesses look after each other's cubs attention seekers that need discipline [Music] even non-related females will put up with typical cheeky kittenish behavior if it doesn't go too far so close is the pride bond that females with cubs the same age happily pool their resources they play and groom and suckle across the board it's a real working commune with plenty of child minders [Music] one of the first things a new male coalition does when it takes over is kill young cubs this is not cruelty nor viciousness but a simple overwhelming need to breed with no young to rear the females will mate again both have the same drive to pass on their genes so a pride may have several litters the same age all with perhaps one shared parent and their bond leads the females to share cub care even down to suckling when it's about three months old a cub starts having a crack at stalking this is a basic lesson in catching food and earning its keep first experiments are always conducted on a relative an experimental throat tackle something it'll eventually do on prey hunting is learned and genetically hardwired and instinctive it's never too soon to find out why bark grows on trees to keep a lion's claws sharp but at this age on a milk diet toothpicks are unnecessary older cubs are above such child's play they're into learning how to knock down prey only not the real thing just yet the older they get the rougher they play claws are sheathed but a playful swipe has substantial muscle behind it it's a little early though to try out some lessons growing up in this society is all about learning how to survive and that revolves around food [Music] [Music] lions can rarely eat in peace the smell of death quickly attracts scavengers a large kill provides plenty of scraps which a black back jackal snatches if it dares but stealing is dangerous like playing russian roulette scrounging off a big cat may be nerve-wracking but it can be the way to survive and jackals are very good at that but the chief scavenger and lion competitor is this animal the hyena though his stomach looks bursting this big male is not going to give up his kill a large enough hyena pack can drive lions from their kill but in this case the male has backup hyenas and the rest must just sit it out in a single sitting a hungry lion can devour about 50 kilos like eating an adolescent human even way down like that he still has energy to drag his kill [Music] just half a dead buffalo must easily weigh as much as he does just try stealing it now a group of lions can naturally defend a kill better than one and that's another big advantage of their unique social lifestyle lion and hyena are rivals with a deadly relationship but this time the hyenas know they're beaten [Music] the lush green heart of the kalahari is the ocavango a place of many herbivores and their predators [Music] buffalo are extremely dangerous for a lion to attack but in water they can be sitting ducks uh lions kill by suffocating it can be a slow way to go [Music] [Applause] ah now here comes the rest of the family keen to help but youth and inexperience make them more of a hindrance oh hmm [Applause] so the lions won't eat the buffalo calf here they'll drag it clear so few the pride gathers round the cubs are still hesitant and awkward but they'll quickly learn what to do by copying their elders a buffalo is normally too big and dangerous for a lioness to tackle alone but a calf separated from its mother was easy game mealtimes have a pecking order normally adults feed first today they stand back and allow the cubs to um the cabs don't show the same good manners towards each other the bigger a kill the more food group living means there are more lions to make big kills but some prey animals are small and this one the warthog provides lions with many a meal chief breadwinners for the pride are the females they often use teamwork to hunt a pincer tactic by two may cut off escape warthogs don't see very well and they frequently trot right into a pride without even noticing until it's too late there's a lineup of keen and hungry spectators there won't be much to go round but they all move in oh not a scrap of warthog will be left not even tusks the downside of group life is that meals must be shared in places where there's a long dry season many prides rely on warthogs to tide them over until the rains after a meal a drink to help digestion the pride has hardly finished eating when income the keenest eyed scavengers the vultures they can spot a far distant lion kill from high in the air some diners are still at it but the vultures will head the food queue [Music] surprisingly lions themselves scavenge as much as 30 percent of their food in the dry season they can see circling vultures two kilometers off and know exactly what it means [Music] [Music] a lion's usual home is the savannah in some parts of africa they live along the edge of forest and in arid areas too food dictates the size of a pride and its territory sometimes a home that looks perfect because it's full of prey isn't it's just the sort of place to attract strong competition from other meat eaters being top of the food pile doesn't mean a lion has a cushy life [Music] if prey is thin on the ground a pride may need a territory bigger than paris but in really good habitat something only like a small town where the grass is greener the hunting's easier so running water can make a lion's life a lot more comfortable and water in the dry season has the pull of his city's bright lights lions can't resist them because water holes are where the prey is and because lions need water like everyone else a big bull elephant is about the only animal able to lay down the law to a lion one nil to the elephant conflict is a fact of life in the dry season when everyone's after the same evaporating lifelines hot and thirsty lions just have to sit and swelter in zimbabwe's mana pools region prides have territories of over 200 square kilometers it sounds a lot but it isn't it's an area where water comes and goes as the pools fill up in the rains then vanish in the dry when it's wet and green it's full of meat on the hoof in lion land females hold the territories it's where most were born and schooled in what to eat and where and when and it's the female who usually leaps to the defense of her home not the male he'll only fight off other males but she has her cubs to think of and needs to make sure other prides don't steal her prey the dry season in the ocavango harsh and stressful a long wait for rain to rescue everyone from drought hunger and heat the bush is tinder dry fires break out making life even worse [Music] for most it's a hard slog to find food and water in a landscape brittle with drought but then the rains come ah the lions are still doing what lions do best relaxing there's fresh blood around now newborn herbivores [Applause] the okavango's vast flat delta flows strongly again it's intricate maze of waterways fully topped up this rich lush region is one of the very best homes africa can offer a lion and the proof is that here small territories provide a living to large prides because they have so much to eat and this food dependency began a very long time ago [Music] just under 40 million years ago the first cat-like creatures rolled off the production line the earliest looked like a mongoose live intelligent a capable and successful hunter this was a time of global cooling the lush forests that grew everywhere began to shrink and grassland took over the habitat of herbivores and that paved the way for more carnivores pseudolires followed on from the mongoose-like first cat ancestor it evolved in africa and was as big as a leopard and as good a tree climber only eight million years ago the modern cat family the felidae made their appearance the first of these cats was no bigger than a domestic cat but probably behaved like an african wild cat this early species did well fed by a population explosion of rats and mice and from those first feelings of eight million years ago came all of today's wildcats including lions [Music] lions are seriously laid back when they're not out looking for a bite they're snoozing which is most of the time most humans know where their next meal is coming from a lion doesn't so lazing makes sense it saves energy plus a lion's heart is small relative to its size so if it rushed about all day it would easily overheat [Music] but when it's time to hunt gone is all shred of influence a big solid predator like a lion relies on sneaking close to prey before the surprise assault especially important in a wide open place like the serengeti hunting strategy number one lie down and lull them into a false sense of security and she's already been forgotten [Applause] now she starts to stalk first class muscle control and an extremely supple flexible spine enable her to move like this lions are now known to calculate exactly the right moment to charge if they're close enough when the prey sees them they'll do it she should be close enough now and she's still out of sight and out of mind when she goes she can do not to nearly 60 kilometers in just four seconds a turbo car on four legs but something went wrong and it often does four out of five lion chasers fail a successful hunt is not just skill it's luck lions usually walk in crocodile mothers in front cubs in the rear they move little in the day dawn dusk and night are their active times when it's cooler and keen night vision tilts the hunting odds in their favor often they follow herds of buffalo lions are not like their larger cousins the tigers who love to be up to their necks in water but in some parts of africa the reputedly water shy lion swims regularly if it lives in botswana's ocavango it hasn't much choice getting wet is part of life if rivers run through its territory a good doggy paddle gets them where they want to be mmm [Music] the most chilling sound in all africa a lion's roar this thunderous greeting to the dawn has the same decibels as a small plane taking off [Music] at night in good conditions a roar can carry nearly four kilometers lions roar most at dusk and dawn because that's when sound carries best and both sex is raw not just the males a roar can be an invisible barbed wire fence to demarcate a territory and warn off intruders roars are also contact calls animals that live in groups need a way of telling the others who they are and where they are over a distance a full-blooded roar only comes with adulthood to make a warning more fearsome lions often roar in chorus [Music] that should head them off at the pass a cubs calls are hardly earth-shattering like boys with voices breaking just as good as a raw are silent signals the messages written in invisible ink on noticeboards of tree grass or bush lions get their pedicures and bark raking talons keeps them sharp by stripping off worn outer layers and scent glands between the toes may also paste up chemical messages males are particularly keen to check who's been by and superimpose their own mark if you live in a group it's a good idea to stay friends and bodytalk's a fine way to do it close physical contact achieves the same end in lion society as in human after a friendly respectful sniff which also checks out status a good lick even the roughest sandpaper can't match a lion's tongue a few judicious licks with something that can strip skin from a dead animal do an excellent job of winkling out dirt and parasites and licking is part of the glue that binds the group and if you live in a group order in the ranks is a good idea too this female is irritated but she bows to superior muscle power [Music] though the lion may be saying he's in command the real decision makers in this society are the females young lions are great at bodytalk playtime is full of it as the cubs learn what group life is all about and train for a hunting profession some of the key notices in lion language are pinned up by females on heat these are pungent invitations written in urine which the prides resident males read with great interest a female litters her trail with them he has a gland in the roof of his mouth that interprets her messages very precisely grimacing like this he gives the gland maximum exposure to increased estrogen in the females urine scent molecules of it hang in the air and lie on the grass there's no mistaking what's said at meal times this lioness knows she's not welcome sometimes a kill gets them so excited the lions pour the ground rounded in a misplaced scent marking activity lion talk can be powerful stuff and when they let rip everyone sits up and takes notice it might seem a breeze being africa's top carnivore and it is when they've killed and can't eat another thing then they live in peace with the neighbors but the neighbors are always aware of them the bastard needn't fear this lion's just taking a walk a lion's prey can tell the difference between a lion lazing and a lion giving the menu a look over a lion settling down is a lion in neutral a giraffe can drink without fear no lion's going to jump it now it's midday and too hot to move they're all sleeping it off cats are notoriously curious this stone on legs needs checking out [Music] oh is it playing with the tortoise or looking for a snack could be either lions have few enemies mostly disease each other and people snares and traps kill lions even if not meant to yet they may recover from appalling wounds [Music] lions and tigers are the cat world's only regular man-eaters but usually they avoid people very wise in respect of east africa's masai tribe their ultimate test of manhood and bravery was to kill a lion just with a spear but this ancient rite of passage no longer exists since the 1970s kenya has protected its lions so is a lion's life easy though he might reach the ripe old age of 14 and males can be full of punch-ups and aggro a female can manage 17 years years full of child-minding risking life and limb in the hunt and warring with neighbors but the upside is their unique social lifestyle their prides give them greater strength hunting prowess and success perhaps solidarity is why these great cats are where they are top of africa's food chain kings of the carnivores [Music] [Music] i am [Music] i am [Music] hey thank you

Channel: Go Wild

Views: 3,013,034

Keywords: orf universum, documentary, blue chip, natural history, secrets of nature, planet earth, natura, naturaleza, documentales, wildlife, grandes documentales

Id: aNuz7GNEKro

Length: 51min 3sec (3063 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 12 2020