Liz wrote:

In message
Hans-Georg Michna wrote:

Liz wrote:

Tonight's cliffhanger:
The pride found the two tiny cubs without the mother and are sniffing them out.
Their fate is in the balance...

unless their mother is a member of the same pride, their chances
of not being killed are very low.

They said that she was of the same pride, but had been 'exiled' (I don't
think that was the exact work they used) because her cubs were so much
smaller than the others. I was quite surprised at that.

Liz,

well, that's a truly peculiar explanation. Perhaps it is exactly
the other way round---the lioness left the pride because her
smaller (younger?) cubs would be in danger or at least
disadvantaged.

In that case their chance of survival is better, but still not
very good. Two forces are pulling. On the one hand the lionesses
could be related, like sisters, so the cubs of one would still
be closely related to the other, which would raise the interest
of keeping them alive. On the other hand other cubs are
competing with a lioness's own cubs and may compete throughout
their lives, so killing them would be an advantage.

Usually lionesses think it wiser to be there and protect their
cubs, but they have to go hunt, of course, so they try to hide
the cubs. It all makes sense most of the time.

Hans-Georg

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