Image of the Day

On His Own

Photographer: John McCutcheon

By Jenny McCutcheon

This the first picture John took on our first day, July 4, 2015, in Kruger National Park located in the northeast part of South Africa.

Two young males were taking a short cut through the bush.Their circumstances unknown, but my guess is they had been kicked out of the pride by a male lion who had usurped  the throne of the pride. New lion kings are intolerant of males in a pride that they have not sired.

If they are lucky, young lions are driven out of the pride while young cubs are brutally but quickly killed.

Their chances of survival are not good. One rule of the bush is that females do the killing and often eat after the king male with the cubs eating last.  Unless these young males have been fortunate enough to have some on hand experience, they can very well starve to death before they have the chance to perfect their art.

We wish them well.