#othawa young male

[tsalala]

The old days of Othawa Young Male and his rule of the Mangheni Pride. He was killed by the Birmingham Males in May 2021.

Othawa Young Male and cubs Inyati Game Lodge, South Africa Photographed by Roger Hlongwane

[tsalala]

Love this girl - I first discovered her as a cub playing around with the Othawa Young Male, who accepted her despite knowing she was not his daughter. Unfortunately, her adoptive father was eventually killed by her biological fathers from the late Birmingham Coalition. She is the sole survivor of the ten cubs born in the 2018-2019 season and is now a mother herself.

Tinya of the Mangheni Pride Savannah Private Game Reserve, South Africa Photographed by Aidan Dunlop

[tsalala]

the plains camp males are fr with the othawa pride now lol. i thought they won’t come of age until a bit later but i guess three years old is close enough to four? for comparison, tsalala only started mating (to our knowledge) late last year when she was four. her cubs may have been fathered by the plains camp males as well.

the boys are seven years old this year and are in their prime but the kambula boys are getting older and bigger too. they just had an encounter a few months back, including their sister who i saw in the videos was frothing at the mouth in aggression. i just hope their young cubs make it to a less dependent age before any major showdown occurs and we lose one or both of the plains camp males!!!

[tsalala]

the plains camp males are only two in number and are already shaping up to be the most dominant of the sabi sands coalitions. they fathered the two nkuhuma subadults (whom they barely contact), the new mangheni litters, and gingerella’s daughters. it’s possible they may have fathered the new tsalala pride cubs, which is ironic considering they probably killed their grandmother back when they were first conquering sabi sands in 2021. the boys are seven years old this year and don’t seem to be exiting their prime soon, but then again the four kambula boys are growing up and i don’t know if they’ll be as aggressive as the plains camp males were at four years old.

i only hope the prides don’t suffer another setback due to male lion politics: the ximhungwe pride is only two lionesses strong, the manghenis have had a string of misfortune raising their young, and the tsalala lioness is the last of her 26-year-old pride. the othawa subadult girls also still hang around with their marauding father, skorro, who might attract other males into their domain. i think it was the plains camp males who attacked skorro this year or last year.

[tsalala]

i was reminded of three-tooth tsalala and the young othawa male today after looking up the majingilanes again. i wish we knew what happened to three-tooth and that the othawa male lived long enough to see through his prime. i very much enjoyed watching othawa and tinya together back when she was still a cub. it always surprised me how he accepted her, knowing she was not his daughter; very rare for a male lion. ​it was ironic tinya’s biological fathers ended up killing young othawa.