An Adult Male Lion Is Introduced To An All Female Pride | Lion Country Ep10 | Our World.

Transcript

0:07

dawn at antelope park

0:12

at the release site the progress of

0:14

seven recently released female lions is

0:16

being checked by david julden

0:19

last time he visited the girls they were

0:21

split into three separate groups

0:24

david wants to be sure that the pride

0:26

have regrouped before the dangerous

0:28

introduction of a male can take place

0:30

he's greeted by three lions heading

0:32

towards the waterhole

0:34

narnia nala and alpha female ashanti

0:39

and that's a shanti roaring and i can

0:41

only assume that that's because they're

0:43

now starting to feel comfortable

0:45

in their area treating it as their

0:47

territory and are therefore letting any

0:50

other lions in the surrounding areas

0:52

know that this is their land but at the

0:55

moment i don't have fire here or athena

0:58

or kange or kwali i don't know where

1:00

they are but i'm hoping ashanti will be

1:02

the one to lead us to them

1:08

[Music]

1:10

having found alpha female ashanti

1:12

david's hunch is that the rest of her

1:14

pride won't be far away

1:21

[Music]

1:26

at the moment we're just by water hole

1:28

one and this is the favorite water hole

1:30

that the lions are obviously using a lot

1:33

just based on the on the paw prints that

1:34

you can see in in the ground around here

1:36

this is definitely their favorite one

1:39

now the shanty has already had her fill

1:42

of water and it's carried on down this

1:45

road

1:46

so i'm gonna keep on traveling

1:48

see if i can find them

1:54

david finds what he's looking for

1:56

one two three four there they are

2:01

just ahead of me

2:02

i can see the rest of the pride ashanti

2:05

has already got there uh in front of us

2:08

nala and narnia are just arriving now

2:11

not quite sure where the other four have

2:13

come from but it looks like a bit of a

2:15

reunion going on

2:17

that'll do yeah

2:23

i've found the whole pride just

2:26

sitting out watching the world go by

2:29

nice and chilled so yeah i'm pretty

2:31

happy that this pride is is comfortable

2:34

in itself

2:35

i've heard them roaring

2:37

so i know that they're they're treating

2:39

this as their territory so this pride is

2:41

now ready to have a male introduced

2:45

what happens then really is anyone's

2:47

guess

2:52

[Music]

2:54

building a breeding pride of lions is

2:56

extremely unpredictable

2:58

david's had trouble introducing adult

3:00

males to females in the past

3:03

conflicts are often aggressive and

3:04

females must be submissive or they can

3:06

be seriously injured

3:09

occasionally males have been known to

3:11

kill females

3:24

but for the project to work it's a risk

3:27

that must be taken

3:31

today another male is ready to take the

3:33

first step

3:34

all lines that are released are radio

3:36

collared and now it's the turn of

3:38

eight-year-old male milo an adult in the

3:41

prime of his life

3:42

this morning he's going to get his

3:44

collar and then in the next couple of

3:46

days he'll get released in with the

3:48

girls to our uh

3:50

gamo release site

3:52

and then our pride will be complete now

3:55

this is one very aggressive lion he

3:58

doesn't like people at all but this time

4:00

around we have a dark gun we can

4:03

get him from a distance

4:05

darting this 200 kilogram killing

4:06

machine is the unenviable task of

4:09

anthony newell i've started quite a few

4:11

lines we've tried to eat me before so

4:14

it's not too much of an issue the main

4:17

concern is that the drug doesn't work or

4:18

you have a bad dot

4:20

then you've actually got to shoot him

4:21

again it's just going to make him even

4:22

more annoyed you know

4:26

we dart him we put a collar on and then

4:28

we get the heck out of there

4:30

let him recover which is no doubt going

4:33

to do nothing to improve his overall

4:36

mood and demeanor towards people

4:40

so i'm very glad that when we go into

4:42

the release site and this line is

4:44

roaming around we'll be in a cage

4:55

with such an aggressive male anthony's

4:57

extremely cautious

4:59

but anxious to take the perfect shot

5:09

now let's get a perfect shot in and

5:11

already i can hear he's starting to calm

5:13

down it might take him a little while to

5:16

fully go to sleep simply because he has

5:18

such a high testosterone level there's a

5:20

lot of adrenaline pumping throughout it

5:22

it might take a couple extra minutes

5:23

than normal but i think he's already

5:25

starting to feel the effects

5:27

will i be the first one in once he's

5:29

asleep

5:30

um

5:31

i don't know

5:32

is it bad if i say no

5:35

within a few minutes

5:36

milo appears to be asleep

5:39

but no one can be sure that the drug has

5:40

taken effect

5:43

while the team prepare outside the cage

5:45

it's down to anthony to check that

5:46

milo's fully sedated

5:48

it's not a job for the faint-hearted

5:51

throwing small pebbles is all that can

5:53

be done to make the life or death

5:54

judgment

5:57

finally the team get the all clear

6:02

this is the last line of the ngamu

6:05

release pride to get their collar so

6:07

this is quite exciting and it's not

6:09

often that we get to

6:11

get this close to a big male lion he's

6:14

so impressive he's got a beautiful mane

6:15

he's in great condition

6:17

and he's a perfect choice for this pride

6:19

he's a strong powerful lion which

6:21

hopefully all the females will enjoy

6:24

and submit to all right slip that thing

6:27

through

6:32

breathing's nice temperature's okay okay

6:34

sure that's tight enough the collar is

6:36

on we've administered the

6:39

penicillin just to help heal the the

6:41

dark wound so in the next couple of

6:43

minutes the reversal drug will go in

6:46

and we'll run

6:49

okay guys reversal then let's split up

6:58

[Music]

7:00

well milo has started to come around

7:02

quite nicely it was a smooth wake up

7:04

he's still obviously a little bit groggy

7:07

um but he's looking around he's looking

7:09

alert

7:10

so i'm really happy with how that's gone

7:12

obviously this at the moment this is one

7:13

of the most important lions in the

7:15

program because he's going to be the

7:16

father of the next generation that we

7:18

actually release back into the wild and

7:21

tonight this is his last night on his

7:24

own because

7:25

tomorrow he will meet his ladies

7:30

[Music]

7:42

it's been a busy day for david and

7:44

there's one last task

7:46

three 17-month old lions are moving ever

7:48

closer to their chance of release

7:50

they've bonded closely as a pride and

7:53

david's anxious to see them make their

7:54

first kill

7:55

we've come for a walk with a group that

7:58

we know as the three k's

8:00

brothers and sisters one brother uh

8:02

that's gefara there lying on the ground

8:05

he's just been flattened by his sister

8:07

katanga the smaller female is kenya

8:10

these three do have quite distinct

8:13

characters kefara really is a typical

8:15

male there's not a massive amount of

8:17

energy just sort of plots along whilst

8:20

kenya tends to hang

8:22

at the back a little

8:24

really this group is is led by katunga

8:28

constantly she's off to the sides um and

8:30

you can see as she's moving through the

8:32

grass you know she'll lift her head

8:34

and really be scanning the area around

8:36

her she's the real hunter she's the real

8:38

leader in this group at the moment

8:41

as lions grow older each individual's

8:44

role in the pride develops

8:46

within a mixed gender litter the males

8:50

usually start off being the bolder ones

8:52

whether that's just because they're a

8:54

bit stupid

8:55

who knows but they just kind of blunder

8:57

around it's

8:59

somewhere around the 14 15 month old

9:02

mark that the females start to come to

9:04

the fore

9:05

and it's usually one in particular which

9:07

will start to lead

9:10

in the wild female lions make almost all

9:12

kills and katanga is starting to show

9:15

signs she could make an accomplished

9:17

hunter

9:18

but her early attempts at stalking leave

9:20

a lot to be desired

9:24

with a herd of wildebeest still 70

9:26

meters away she's easily spotted

9:29

and without the help of her lazy

9:30

siblings she'll have to work hard to

9:32

make a kill

9:34

nice these rocks are a real favorite

9:37

with the lions on this walk it's just

9:39

somewhere nice they can get up high get

9:41

a bit of a viewpoint there's a bit of a

9:43

water hole

9:45

here so they can have a drink so it's a

9:47

nice place just to bring them and chill

9:49

out and explore for

9:51

a while

9:53

it's not the outcome david wanted

9:55

these lions will have to learn fast or

9:58

they won't survive on their own

10:00

[Music]

10:10

at the release site the big day has

10:12

arrived

10:13

the females of the engamo pride are soon

10:15

to meet male milo with whom it's hoped

10:17

they'll breed

10:18

today is a really important day for us

10:21

because in a few hours time we're going

10:24

to

10:25

release one final lion into this release

10:28

area

10:31

that is milo

10:33

a fully grown

10:34

adult and very stunning looking male

10:38

and that will complete the picture

10:40

[Music]

10:43

the girls have made this territory their

10:45

own and have been successfully hunting

10:47

for themselves

10:50

but could the introduction of the new

10:51

male upset the balance of this

10:53

well-bonded pride

10:55

one female is a particular worry you

10:58

know he's a big aggressive male what i

11:00

expect is he'll come out and

11:02

just try and let these ladies know that

11:04

he's the boss and hopefully they will

11:06

all submit very quickly i do have a

11:09

genuine fear for fire because

11:13

submitting to anyone is not really in

11:16

her behavior repertoire

11:19

then david makes an important discovery

11:21

we're seeing quite a lot of playing

11:24

within this pride but also there's

11:26

purring now purring is

11:28

quite a normal way for lions to

11:31

articulate a bonding basically but also

11:35

a female that's an easteros will per an

11:38

awful lot and these females will

11:40

generally come on heat together

11:43

with several females likely to be in

11:44

heat it's an exciting find

11:47

of course one large and hairy uh male

11:51

lion the first thing he will pick up on

11:54

is whether any of these females are in

11:56

heat now if it is fire who is the one

11:59

female that is most likely to hit back

12:02

it might assist in that she actually

12:05

really really wants to be with a male at

12:07

this point all we can do is just let

12:09

nature take its course and hope for the

12:11

best

12:12

which is why i'm going to be nervous for

12:14

the whole day

12:17

[Music]

12:20

at the ungarmo release site there's been

12:22

an exciting discovery that several of

12:24

the females are in heat

12:25

now their lives are about to change

12:27

forever

12:29

david yulden is ready to release

12:31

red-blooded adult male milo into their

12:33

enclosure

12:34

okay stand by

12:36

in just a few moments we're going to

12:38

release milo from the holding enclosures

12:41

that are to the side of the release area

12:43

here through a gate about

12:45

60 meters or so in front of me

12:48

now what happens then

12:50

really is anyone's guess the females are

12:54

pretty chilled out when he approaches

12:56

them i think it's going to be really

12:57

quite a tense thing and we're just going

12:59

to have to hope that none of them get

13:00

hurt in the process

13:02

oh fire you don't want to be first

13:03

surely to god

13:06

first to the fence is david's favorite

13:09

fire

13:10

rather worryingly she's just decided to

13:13

come over and stand virtually in front

13:15

of the release gate so that's going to

13:17

be the first line that milo's going to

13:18

see so i'm a bit nervous

13:20

um but there's nothing i can do i have

13:22

to leave it up to them now

13:24

so here we go

13:25

as milo is such an aggressive male the

13:27

jeep has been fitted with protective

13:29

bars for the team's safety button down

13:31

the hatches

13:32

let's

13:38

the release is just moments away leanne

13:41

leanne please come in

13:44

please would you go ahead open the gate

13:46

and release milo

13:50

the females are aware that something

13:52

unusual is happening and close in on the

13:54

release gate

13:55

even david has no idea what will happen

13:58

next

14:00

[Music]

14:03

he seems to have a welcoming party

14:04

because the females are starting to come

14:08

over having heard him make a few growls

14:11

i think it's taking him a little while

14:12

to come through simply because he has no

14:15

concept of being

14:17

free in an area like this so

14:19

he's probably a bit nervous

14:21

seeing milo on the other side of the

14:22

fence fire ashanti and kange move in for

14:26

a closer look

14:27

that's quite excited

14:29

raised quivering tales communicate to

14:31

milo that these females are pleased to

14:33

see him some of the girls are now really

14:36

excited

14:37

but you can see fire particularly

14:40

is rubbing up and down against the fence

14:43

[Music]

14:53

[Music]

14:56

suddenly milo is free

14:58

interesting at first there's no

15:00

aggression towards the excited females

15:03

milo's more interested in his new

15:04

surroundings it looked like fire

15:07

actually stuck a head into the holding

15:09

enclosure and that enticed milo to come

15:12

out and then i can see just

15:14

the females really seem just quite

15:16

excited that he's there and they're sort

15:17

of jumping up and greeting almost

15:19

enticing play he seems frankly annoyed

15:22

by the whole thing and is now just

15:23

marching off down the fence line and

15:26

into the distance

15:31

[Music]

15:33

this is where it all might kick off

15:34

that's fire at the front

15:37

then milo returns to greet feisty fire

15:42

an extremely unpredictable female

15:45

[Music]

15:49

the first line up

15:51

was fire and she actually went straight

15:53

up to him and just scraped his nose a

15:55

little

15:56

and then lay down in front of him in

15:58

full submissive pose now that might be

16:00

because we think that she might be

16:02

starting to come into easteros

16:05

and so

16:06

she's going to be particularly

16:07

interested in in him but i did have a

16:09

fear before that she would be really

16:12

quite aggressive towards him but that

16:14

seems to have gone okay

16:15

go down the road turn left onto the cut

16:17

area

16:18

[Music]

16:20

the initial moments of release have gone

16:22

well

16:23

now milo is pursued by seven intrigued

16:25

females as he sets out to explore his

16:28

new territory my nerves have settled

16:31

he looks incredible out here it's a good

16:34

day and stop there

16:38

david follows at a distance so the lions

16:40

can behave as naturally as possible here

16:42

come the girls

16:46

[Music]

16:54

at the waterhole the surprisingly gentle

16:57

encounters continue

16:59

just a really nice moment where

17:01

he's had his drink

17:02

the girls have all had a drink

17:05

i'm not sure where he's going now

17:07

but uh

17:08

our girls are now

17:10

settling under their favorite tree

17:14

once they got to the water hole the

17:16

females clearly decided it's too hot to

17:18

keep roman around so that's where

17:20

they've stayed and milo's just wandered

17:23

off into the distance and actually milo

17:25

will not spend a huge amount of time

17:27

with the females uh maybe more so in in

17:30

the first few days but yeah it's just

17:32

gonna be really exciting to see how they

17:34

get on and how this pride develops

17:37

[Music]

17:47

next day at antelope park david has

17:50

received exciting news from the lion

17:51

handlers

17:53

one of the young lions he was with

17:54

yesterday has made a kill

17:57

it's pretty early morning but i've had a

17:59

radio call to say that kutanga one of

18:02

our young females has managed to bring

18:05

down an adult wildebeest but it's just

18:07

really good to hear that these kills are

18:09

being made the lions are successfully

18:11

hunting both at night and during the day

18:15

this is how the program works

18:17

and it can happen at any moment so

18:20

lying over lion kill we're off to sea

18:30

operations manager nathan webb saw the

18:33

kill

18:37

the others help at all nothing

18:39

this grass here this is where it all

18:41

took place right

18:42

see this is freshly chewed glass so this

18:44

this wildebeest was eating when she got

18:47

hold of it it's a proper stalk

18:50

nicely done she's doing well

18:52

but no her brother and sister know

18:54

how katanga seems to be the main culprit

18:58

for this group and she's really really

19:00

doing well she's clearly used the grass

19:03

as cover and has stalked such that this

19:06

wildebeest didn't know she was coming i

19:08

mean that's really impressive for a 17

19:11

month old lion and to give an idea of

19:14

how strong these animals can be this

19:16

lion has dragged what is about 150 kgs

19:20

of wildebeest down into slightly more

19:23

sheltered spot where she's now enjoying

19:25

a very very well earned meal

19:28

david's encouraged that katanga is

19:30

showing such remarkable hunting skills

19:35

one day this promising lion and her

19:37

siblings will live independently like

19:39

the agamo pride who are already

19:42

successfully hunting at the release site

19:44

one two three four five six seven eight

19:47

nine ten

19:48

ten debra five world of east

19:51

each time we're coming in we're just

19:52

doing a count of the various herds of

19:56

each species that we come across because

19:57

that will give us an idea whether the

20:00

lions have successfully hunted anything

20:02

there are only ten zebra in the herd and

20:05

yesterday they were a herd of 12.

20:09

david's using milo's radio collar signal

20:12

to track him down

20:13

he's keen to see if the new male's

20:14

spending time with any particular

20:16

females

20:17

i just want to see how is he interacting

20:19

with the group and also is he showing

20:21

particular interest in any one or two

20:23

females in which case breathing might

20:26

start fairly soon

20:29

signal

20:30

[Applause]

20:31

on the shanty

20:35

milo's quite strong

20:37

oh there's a second one there's milo

20:40

just meters away from milo are alpha

20:42

female ashanti and kange

20:44

can you greasing to ashanti

20:47

these are two lions that david suspects

20:49

are on heat

20:51

during a courtship that lasts around two

20:53

days males can be extremely violent so

20:56

ashanti and kengei will have to be

20:58

cautious and submissive when greeted by

21:00

this impressive male 1

21:04

milo is king of this territory and the

21:07

girls do have to show due deference to

21:10

the king so as he comes past they lower

21:13

their heads

21:14

and you can just hear from the sounds

21:16

that they were making that they're

21:18

actually feeling a little intimidated by

21:19

him and frankly who wouldn't it's so

21:22

incredible just to be out here and to be

21:24

able to watch these lions interact and

21:27

to see that they are acting as you would

21:29

expect within a wild pride

21:33

the successful introduction of milo to

21:36

the engamo prides females moves the

21:38

project one step closer to breeding cubs