They will still be under their mother’s care, which undermines the lions’ attention from the lioness to initiate mating. The new lions into the existing pride usually aim at cubs about nine months and below. Moreover, the lions think that the lionesses won’t be responsive to mating while nursing their offspring, so they kill their cubs to initiate mating and later procreate. Thus, they are unwilling to use their energy in futility, knowing that the lioness will propagate the other lions’ genes instead. Research shows that the male lions kill the cubs because they’re not biologically related to them.
When a new alliance of males arrives to inherit the pride, it sometimes eliminates the lionesses’ cubs in the pride.
Should a male accept the offspring from the former ruling male, he will henceforth safeguard them. The lionesses sometimes successfully convince the new males not to eliminate the cubs. The lions only need assurance that they will dominate the pride. It is not automatic that the new dominant males in the pride will commit infanticide. The trick portrays lionesses as intelligent, as they make the males end up fending for the cubs that are not theirs.ĭo you know the differences between a lion and a tiger? Find out here Infanticide by Lions Similarly, the lionesses with newly born cubs can conceal them and expose them later after mating with the new males. Surprisingly, by the time the new males join the pride, the already pregnant females can hide their cubs, pretending they belong to the new males. Usually, lionesses in the pride bear cubs concurrently and fend for them in a group. Where older cubs are present in the pride, the lioness waits until the young ones are three months old before she introduces them to the rest. She keeps her cubs hidden from other lions in the pride for about six weeks until they mature to follow the pride. How Lionesses Protect their Cubs from Male InfanticideĪfter birth, a lioness ensures that all her cubs are safe from attacks by large birds of prey and lions, as they’re tiny and delicate. Because of this, male lions commit infanticide when they take over a pride. Researchers believe that male lions kill their cubs to bring back the lionesses into estrus, and while this is not strictly true, males want their cubs to further their genes and lineage. Infanticide and Search for Reproductive Opportunities
0 kommentar(er)
