Relentless Enemies Page #7

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When that happens, the pride will be

in desperate need of some of their cubs.

It is essential that they keep

the hunting numbers

at the ideal eight or nine lionesses.

This then is a precious cargo.

This wet, swampy world they live in

makes up an intricate part of

the lions' hunting strategy,

where the buffalo are slowed down.

But it also wears out the lions.

Both they and their prey

are more vulnerable in the swamp.

Beyond the ebb and flow

of this unpredictable relationship,

a strange set of patterns emerge.

The lions start to show signs

of understanding much more,

and going much further

in their strategies for hunting buffalo.

The season change brings

new wanderers through their territory,

big herds of elephants from the dry interior.

To the north, no more than

a few dozen pride territories away,

other lions have specialized

in killing elephants,

but not these lions.

Even though their bulk would be valuable

in an elephant hunt,

they show no interest at all.

Lions learn quickly,

but they most often stick to what they know.

And here, that is buffalo hunting.

When the buffalo are woken and scattered

into the 1 1 0-degree heat,

Skew Horn looks north

and picks out a landmark.

The Tsaro lionesses follow.

They've seen this before.

They know exactly where the herd is going,

almost before the last members

of the herd know themselves.

From their memory of past successes

and an intimate knowledge of the terrain,

the lions now do something

that shows the precise calculation

of their hunting strategies.

They position themselves,

ready to play out the same game plan

they have used many times before.

When the lionesses ignore the herd

and circle ahead of it,

it is because they are drawing on

memory from past battles.

They know where the buffalo

will be the most vulnerable.

Up ahead is where the herd will wedge itself

against the deep water's edge.

All the lions have to do

is to position themselves,

ready for the herd to turn back.

The cubs are along as well.

The Tsaro lionesses

may be this enormous size

because of some genetic trait

that the cubs will inherit.

The constant wading may also be a key

to developing these huge chests

and upper legs,

an exercise the cubs will get used to,

even though now the soft mud

and the small creatures

that scurry away underfoot unsettle them.

The sheer volume of buffalo meat

these specialist cubs will eat

may be a further factor in making them

into these enormous Okavango swamp cats.

Somewhere along the way,

the injured cub fell behind and disappeared,

a bitter reminder to any cub that lags.

The old loner is also along today,

hanging back and weary of the unruly cubs

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