Often, you may come across the term ‘infanticide’, or even witness it first-hand. This is where an adult, usually a male – though it can be practised by females too– kills a young offspring of the same species.
Infanticide is an often overlooked way of ensuring the survival of the fittest. It has been recorded in several species throughout the animal kingdom, especially in primates. It includes mammals such as dolphins and meerkats, as well as fish, insects, reptiles and amphibians – even unpredictable animals such as hippos can commit infanticide.
Scientific research shows it can provide benefits to the perpetrator, such as increased reproductive opportunities, access to limited resources, direct nutritional benefits, or the prevention of misdirected parental care.
Infanticide in lions is common, and here we will briefly look into the theories as to why lions, both males and females, commit such an act.
Lioness with two cubs
Infanticide by males
When a new coalition of males takes over a pride, they almost always kill the prides’ cubs, since they are not biologically related and do not want to spend energy ensuring that other lions’ genes will be passed on. Also, female lions will not be receptive to mating while they are nursing, so killing the cubs enables the male lions to procreate.
The immigrating lions seem to target any cubs that are roughly nine months old or younger – as the mother will still be nursing them – though as in other species, the female will attempt to prevent infanticide by hiding or directly defending their cubs; lionesses are generally more successful at protecting older cubs, as they would be leaving the pride sooner.
Males have, on average, only a two-year window in which to pass on their genes, and lionesses only give birth once every two years, so the selective pressure on them to conform to this behaviour is intense. In fact, it is estimated that a quarter of cubs dying in the first year of life are victims of infanticide.
Infanticide by females
Infanticide by the mother of lion cubs, referred to as filial infanticide (when a parent kills its offspring), has been observed where the mother will deliberately abandon her litter when only one cub remains. It has been determined that females will increase their lifetime reproductive success by abandoning single cubs and investing exclusively in larger litters (Packer & Pusey, 1984). It is also noted that abandonment can also occur if the cub is handicapped, weak or suffering from illness.
Lioness with cub
Because infanticide by males is highly detrimental to female reproductive success, several counter-strategies by female lions to try and prevent infanticide, or reduce the impact of it on the pride, has been noted.
“Those females that remain in the pride and mate with the new males show low fertility in the first few months after a takeover of their pride. At the same time, however, females show heightened sexual activity, being more active in initiating copulations and seeking a greater number of mating partners. These two factors appear to elicit
lion
Reproduction and life cycle
Both sexes are polygamous and breed throughout the year, but females are usually restricted to the one or two adult males of their pride. In captivity lions often breed every year, but in the wild they usually breed no more than once in two years. Females are receptive to mating for three or four days within a widely variable reproductive cycle. During this time a pair generally mates every 20–30 minutes, with up to 50 copulations per 24 hours. Such extended copulation not only stimulates ovulation in the female but also secures paternity for the male by excluding other males. The gestation period is about 108 days, and the litter size varies from one to six cubs, two to four being usual.
For how long would the cubs stayed with their mother?
Newborn cubs are helpless and blind and have a thick coat with dark spots that usually disappear with maturity. Cubs are able to follow their mothers at about three months of age and are weaned by six or seven months. They begin participating in kills by 11 months but probably cannot survive on their own until they are two years old. Although lionesses will nurse cubs other than their own, they are surprisingly inattentive mothers and often leave their cubs alone for up to 24 hours. There is a corresponding high mortality rate (e.g., 86 percent in the Serengeti), but survival rates improve after the age of two. In the wild, sexual maturity is reached at three or four years of age. Some female cubs remain within the pride when they attain sexual maturity, but others are forced out and join other prides or wander as nomads. Male cubs are expelled from the pride at about three years of age and become nomads until they are old enough to try to take over another pride (after age five). Many adult males remain nomads for life. Mating opportunities for nomad males are rare, and competition between male lions to defend a pride’s territory and mate with the pride females is fierce. Cooperating partnerships of two to four males are more successful at maintaining tenure with a pride than individuals, and larger coalitions father more surviving offspring per male. Small coalitions typically comprise related males, whereas larger groups often include unrelated individuals. If a new cohort of males is able to take over a pride, they will seek to kill young cubs sired by their predecessors. This has the effect of shortening the time before the cubs’ mothers are ready to mate again. Females attempt to prevent this infanticide by hiding or directly defending their cubs; lionesses are generally more successful at protecting older cubs, as they would be leaving the pride sooner. In the wild lions seldom live more than 8 to 10 years, chiefly because of attacks by humans or other lions or the effects of kicks and gorings from intended prey animals. In captivity they may live 25 years or more.After the lion hunt, it just get to give its puppy the meat And they eat to their Good growth
this happening in Tanzania 🇹🇿 welcome all
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