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

27 Dec 2021

Subscribe to Our World: https://bit.ly/3xnPuGL At Antelope Park, David prepares to release seven female lions into a huge purpose-built enclosure, which will allow them to grow up free from human intervention before their eventual release into the wild. However, the females soon split into groups and David is not sure what will happen next, especially as the team gets ready to introduce an adult male to the pride.

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

21:41

that can one day be released into the

21:43

wilds of africa

21:49

[Music]

21:55

[Music]

22:25

you