National Geographic: Lions of the African Night Page #4

---

their development.

It is common for more than one pair

of frogs to make a nest together,

but this group is extraordinary.

About 40 frogs are contributing

to this nest

which, when completed,

will contain about 3,000 eggs.

The pride has come upon a

foraging porcupine,

which the adults have left to

the inexperienced younger lions.

The porcupine has been wounded,

but not badly,

and there is much fight still left in

it as the cubs are finding out.

To succeed they will have to insert

a paw under the porcupine

and bowl it over to expose its

unprotected belly.

But they're not finding this easy

and frequently get stuck with quills.

The encounter eventually

becomes a lesson in restraint.

With more time the cubs may

have succeeded,

but the adults have moved on

and the cubs leave to catch up.

A scorpion clears the sand

from its burrow

before settling in the entrance

to ambush passing prey.

Millipedes are often eaten

by scorpions,

but this millipede has

an escape technique

that makes it almost uncatchable

by any scorpion.

When molested, it flips onto its back

and, snakelike, slithers out of range.

A charge on a wildebeest herd

is imminent

and the younger lions listen

for the outcome.

For the small cubs this is the ultimate

test of their ability to survive.

Only by displaying a fierce

will to take its share

can a cub get enough to eat.

And it is now, when the abdomen

of the wildebeest is torn open

and the choicest portions

become available,

that the competition is keenest.

By the end of such a meal

most of the pride will have

at least some small injury.

But they scarcely seem to

notice their wounds, which soon heal.

Eventually the carcass is dismembered

and the adults and larger cubs have

taken their spoils

into the surrounding bushes

to gnaw on in peace.

The younger cubs now have easier

access to the remains of the carcass,

which they attack with a will.

And even the lame cub has managed

to get a share.

Hyenas and jackals that would snatch

a meal from smaller prides

find this group too formidable.

They will keep their distance

until it's all over.

The lions that have finished eating

groom one another

licking away the blood from each other

and probably renewing bonds

that were battered during

the frenzy of eating.

For it is only at kills that harmony

within the pride breaks down.

There is no hierarchy in a lion pride

all are equal,

and the members compete only at kills.

In harmony again and replete

for a little while,

the pride moves on to find a

shady place to spend the day.

By nightfall this large family

will be hungry.

Impelled once more on their

everlasting search for food,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes