Big Cats 24/7 (2024) s01e03 Episode Script

1
Lights off.
Hang on. BLEEP!
We've got another lion.
I think this is Madumo and Big Toe,
they've come in!
The male lions from the
Xudum pride are fighting
to protect their whole family
They're on them. They're on them.
..and are battling with
aggressive intruder males.
Ah, jeez,
this could be a fight to the death.
SNARLING
If Madumo and Big Toe lose their
power, that just changes everything.
The Okavango Delta in Botswana.
ELEPHANTS TRUMPE
One of Africa's last wildernesses.
The Okavango Delta is
an oasis in the desert,
it's a miracle in itself.
And it's a stronghold
for Africa's big cats.
Lion
..cheetah
..and leopard.
This is nature
at its absolute finest.
Now, for the very first time,
a team of local and international
wildlife film-makers
is working together to record
the cats' lives like never before.
Using the latest technology
We're going to be able to see things
in a completely different light
and tell stories
in a completely different way.
..they'll follow individual
big cats
..for six months,
through the day
This is crazy. This is a battle.
..and the night
This is a military-grade
thermal-imaging camera.
Lions have got amazing night-vision,
but it's not as good as this.
..capturing their behaviour
He's got the cub. He's got the cub.
..24 hours a day.
Welcome to the Okavango Delta.
GROWLING
It gets crazy.
SNARLING
MEWLING
RADIO BEEPS
Wildlife cameraman Gordon is
searching for the Xudum pride males
after losing them during the night.
There's absolutely no sign
of Big Toe and Madumo.
I'm beginning to get
a little bit worried.
Hope that we come across them.
Here we go.
Big tracks.
Two sets.
Look, look, look! There.
They look absolutely exhausted.
Big Toe hasn't even
raised his head.
It almost looks as if
he's no longer with us.
Is he OK?
OK.
These boys are looking
very, very tired.
They don't have the swagger
that they had before.
Last night, Big Toe and Madumo
fought with intruder male lions
for over an hour
Right, Madumo is up.
Oh, look at this.
Very pronounced limp.
LOW GROWLING
Ah, yeah, one of our boys
was getting properly roughed up,
and it must have been Madumo -
look at how he's walking.
He's in real pain.
It just shows you that there are
other lions out here
that can match them pound-for-pound.
As dominant pride males,
Madumo and Big Toe's main role
is to protect their family.
If Madumo and Big Toe
lose their power,
that just changes everything
for the entire pride.
For the cubs especially.
If new males came in,
they would kill them,
without a shadow of a doubt.
Because the Xudum territory is rich,
it's a lion paradise,
someone's going to show up
and going to knock the crowns
clean off their head.
And those daysmay be upon us.
With Madumo and Big Toe injured
..the threat of intruder male lions
hangs over the pride.
PLAYFUL MEOWING
At particular risk
are these inexperienced youngsters.
These two are absolute clowns.
Colin and Nkgonne are
two-year-old subadult males.
Oh, that's a wobbly tree.
Nkgonne's joining.
Oh!
That doesn't look like a good idea.
These teenagers are physically
bigger than the cubs,
but they're not behaving
like adults yet.
What a pose.
His belly just resting on the trunk.
He looks so uncomfortable.
I can hear the entire male
population going, "Oooh!"
You can definitely see
a lot of Colin's character.
He's always a bit more outlandish
than his brother Nkgonne.
What is your next move?
Think very carefully about this one.
LOW GROWL
Oh, he's falling, he's falling!
ANNA CHUCKLES
No!
It is utterly hilarious
to think that these two are supposed
to be nearly independent, and yet
..here they are,
playing around like two big cubs.
Colin and Nkgonne are at a critical
stage in the lives.
The team is following them
to see how things play out.
The Big Cats film crew
is covering 150 square miles
of the Okavango Delta.
ELEPHANT TRUMPETS
It's the middle of the dry season.
After the biggest wildfire in five
years, the land is bone dry.
Despite this, it's a good time
of year for leopards to breed.
Xudum is the resident
female leopard.
At five years old,
she's ready to have cubs.
She's been eating well, but she's
becoming quite a stocky leopard.
Really filling out like an adult
female, which is quite nice.
She's coming on as a cat.
It's a beautiful thing to see.
I just want her to have cubs.
Xudum has recently mastered
hunting from trees.
Brad and Tristen are with her
in one her favourite spots.
Like clockwork, she's just got up
another ebony tree,
positioning herself
for potential ambush.
SNUFFLING
There's a whole big herd of impala
just to our south.
Wait one second,
she'sjust sat up.
She's twitching.
And there she goes!
And she's jumped. OK.
Yeah, Brad, she's just jumped
out of the tree, and she's got one.
Last time she made a kill,
she sat with it for a long time
before she started to eat.
This time,
it looks like she's not wasting
any time to get stuck in.
Mating season is physically
demanding on female leopards
I think it's going to be
a stressful time for Xudum.
She's got her work cut out for her.
..so Xudum is ensuring
she keeps her meal.
Leopards are solitary
and quite small,
so they are ranked quite low
when it comes to losing their kills
to other predators.
Good girl.
She's done well. She's pushed it up
into the fork of a tree.
The challenge for Xudum now
is finding the right mate.
At camp, Gordon is teaming up
with lion specialist
Dr Robynne Kotze
from Oxford University.
So that point over there,
that's got his GPS collar number.
Robynne has known the Xudum pride
for more than a decade
So if we open that,
that gives us his latest location.
..and has fitted Colin
with a satellite collar.
Let's go.
Dominant pride males Big Toe and
Madumo haven't been seen for days.
With intruder males still around
Here they are. Success!
..teenagers Colin and Nkgonne
are particularly vulnerable.
So you collared him how long ago?
About a year.
We had to fit his collar with space
so that he could grow -
obviously he's still a growing boy.
But we also don't want to fit it
too loosely
that he can pull it over his head.
We kind of try and monitor them
from about two years old,
expecting that at any point
if the big males decide
they're out,
that they're going to leave.
Why would they not want to keep
another male in the pride?
At this age, these males will be
quite useful in terms of hunting,
but now the females
will start mating again,
and obviously the next litter
of cubs will come in.
And when that happens, they don't
really want these boys around,
because they're competition
for food.
But presumably,
if Colin had his own way,
he'd just stay exactly where he was.
Oh, yeah.
Male lions, they, for sure, choose
the path of least resistance,
and so it's really easy for him
to kind of hang around,
let the mums do all the work and
still be able to have good meals.
At two years old,
male lions are often pushed
out of the family
to find a pride of their own.
She's not too happy
with him being around,
and this is kind of what happens now
when he's this age,
is even the adult lionesses
will start showing
a little bit of discomfort.
Until they reach their prime,
five, six years old,
they've basically got to
stay out of the way
from not only their dads but also
big males from other prides.
There's a high likelihood that, if
they clash, they could get killed.
To see how the females behave
towards Colin and Nkgonne at night,
Gordon is rigging
the thermal camera.
Is there somebody out there?
There's something here.
Oh, it's a female.
Is this the cubs coming in?
Oh, my God! Ohh! Oh, that's great!
Amazing! Look at them!
How many? One, two, three, four,
five, six and the big fella.
Oh, and the older one, yeah.
That's great. That's beautiful.
The cubs are sticking close to
their mums for safety
..but the females are on edge.
Oh, that's not a very warm welcome.
No. Now, are these cubs
going to approach?
They are actually walking this way.
They are.
Right, what's going to happen here?
Has anyone seen the cubs interacting
with Colin and Nkgonne before?
I haven't.
It seems like they're
trying to introduce them.
LOW GROWLING
SNARLING
Oh Right
Oh, that's not good.
That is not good.
Maybe they're just kind of saying,
"The babies are here,
you guys better behave."
"Be careful,
be on your best behaviour." Yeah.
Where's he gone?
Oh, he's sloped off.
Oh, he's Yeah, he's a bit unsure.
Colin is just over here to my left.
He's keeping a low profile.
He's making, like,
small vocalisations.
I've never actually witnessed
this interaction,
this really sort of awkward stage.
So this is kind of typical now
of what will happen as they keep
getting pushed to the periphery.
Colin is in a very submissive
position - can you see him there?
Mm, yeah. Just like, head down,
nonthreatening. Yeah.
"I'm not even aware of you
being there."
As the females become more
aggressive towards Colin
and Nkgonne, their time within
this pride seems to be running out.
Right, I think we can leave them.
Night, boys.
VARIOUS ANIMALS CALL
While searching for Xudum,
the female leopard
Hello, boy. What a nice surprise.
..Brad has found a male
in her territory.
I suspect that this is Mosweu.
Mosweu means "pale coloured".
And you can see from his pelt
he's much lighter
than most of the males
we see around the area.
No-one has seen him for months so
..it's like he knows Xudum
is in season
and he's come home to do the deed.
We know he's an aggressive guy.
He's quite aggressive
around the females.
He's a fighter.
Mosweu the brute.
As the dominant male in the area,
Mosweu will kill any cubs he finds
that are not his own.
There's something quite insane
when a leopard is looking
straight at you from this angle.
I mean, it looks like
he's looking into my soul almost.
There's not many leopards we have
that are this relaxed.
So special being able to get
that close to any big cat,
let alone leopards.
Especially male leopards -
they're normally quite timid
compared to the females.
Hey, big boy.
That was really, really cool.
Mosweu is an ideal breeding partner
for Xudum.
All he has to do now is find her.
We've just got a call on the radio
of a dead elephant bull,
so we're just going to go and
try and investigate this.
We have a visual.
Whoa. OK, he's a huge guy.
Huge guy, huge tusk.
The bull elephant died
at least three days ago.
He's a male in good shape. It could
have been a territorial fight here.
This will provide plenty food
for our cats if they do find it.
It could easily feed
the entire pride,
which could be good for them
in these times of drought.
The carcass might also attract
the intruder male lions.
Vianet and Anna are setting up
the thermal cameras
to see what unfolds.
There's a hyena.
HYENA WHOOPS
Whew!
Definitely making its presence
known.
This technology reveals
some sights
Oh!
..that are better left in the dark.
That is the most disgusting thing
I have ever seen.
There are now five hyena here,
so don't think there's any chance
that other predators
are going to give it a go.
They are all sort of fanned out
around the carcass.
It's like they're all
acting as security,
making sure no-one gets through.
Hyenas' calls can travel up to 5km,
so they're just
going to keep coming.
I think the only thing that's going
to change the dynamics here
is if the Xudum pride
turn up in force.
I can hear one of the hyenas
vocalising.
They're facing the opposite
direction
to the actual carcass.
THEY BARK AND YELP
Something must be going on now.
HE GASPS
Two male lions!
Ooh, I think that might be
Yeah, that's Colin
and his brother Nkgonne.
This is so interesting.
This is so exciting.
Hyenas calling.
WHOOPING AND LOW GROWLING
Whoa! Powerful.
One hyena is no match
for Colin and Nkgonne,
but numbers can level
the playing field.
Three hyenas, four
chasing them away.
I don't know where to focus.
It's going closer, God!
What are you doing this for?
They stood their ground.
GROWLING
Oh, my God.
The big male chased them.
After claiming the carcass,
Colin and Nkgonne are joined
by some of the pride females.
It's starting to get quite busy.
SNARLING
Nkgonne just went and
..really sweetly rubbed his forehead
on Colin.
Recently they've had
quite a lot of friction with
the lionesses in the pride,
but it looks like they've done
a really good job
at shifting these hyenas
off the carcass.
So I thinkthey've clearly
still got a place in the pride.
And they're both now just
having a snooze together.
They really are
the best of brothers.
At dawn, Gordon finds Colin
and Nkgonne still at the carcass
and still with the females.
Everyone's in a very playful mood
this morning.
See, this is an interesting
situation
..because although Colin and Nkgonne
have got the clear message
that they're not wanted
around the rest of the pride,
with this elephant carcass, it's
brought all of these lions together.
It seems that the females have
definitely shifted their attitude
towards these two boys.
They might be an inconvenience
at times,
but in this scenario, it's good
to have Colin and Nkgonne around.
If I was Colin and Nkgonne,
I'd probably feel a little bit used.
It's like,
"Yeah, we don't want you around.
"Actually, hang on
"A couple of big boys like you,
that's quite handy,
"so, yeah, stick around here."
The dominant pride males,
Big Toe and Madumo,
haven't been seen for over a week.
Now Sets has found the intruder
male lions on patrol.
Less than 100m away
are Colin and Nkgonne,
and one pride female.
Incoming, two intruders.
Sets is with them and there could be
an encounter with Colin and Nkgonne.
They seem to be up and moving
towards where Gordon has
Colin and Nkgonne
and the other female.
We might have a conflict because the
intruder males don't belong here.
LIONESS CALLS OU
So the female has started calling.
The lioness is contact calling,
trying to find
the rest of the Xudum pride.
She is risking alerting the intruder
males to her exact location.
They will hear that call,
the call of a female.
And they may well come this way,
not knowing that this female
is backed up by two males,
Colin and Nkgonne.
LIONESS CALLS OU
She's picked up
the volume of that call.
LIONESS CALLS
They seem to be trotting.
Something seems to be brewing.
An interaction is imminent.
So if you can see my vehicle,
I'm sitting with the female.
She's up on a termite mound,
and the males are coming
straight towards her.
Colin and Nkgonne are behind me.
The intruder males are within 50m
of the female,
and probably, like,
70m from Colin and Nkgonne.
The intruder's seen the female
but he's ignoring her.
I think he's recognised that
there's a bigger lion behind her.
Oh, my goodness me.
These intruders
..are walking straight into trouble.
What on earth is going to happen?
Colin and Nkgonne are behind me.
Colin and Nkgonne
might look imposing,
but they're only half the weight
of an adult male lion.
Nkgonne's moving.
Right, this is going to
come to something.
Two Xudum boys against
two intruders.
OK, heads are up.
What's happening?
Are they pulling out, man?
Trouble is at your back.
What are you doing?
Colin and Nkgonne are moving out,
they're pulling out.
The intruders are over here,
they're moving in.
This is an aggressive approach,
and Colin and Nkgonne
have bottled it!
One of the intruder males
is chasing Colin and Nkgonne away.
This is a territory
that Colin and Nkgonne are not
prepared to fight for.
At least, not with these two guys.
The intruders are chasing them out,
and they're going.
Off they go, off into the distance.
My word, who'd have thought it?
Just with the last of the light,
I'm seeing that this female is not
giving the intruder a warm welcome.
I think Colin and Nkgonne, as soon
as they got their eyes on these guys
and saw how big they were,
they weren't taking any chances.
In the morning,
Rea and Vianet are with
the Xudum pride's mums and cubs.
They've been looking behind
continuously.
We've had intruder males coming into
the territory of our cats,
and if these intruders
were to find these cubs,
they would kill all of them.
There is still no sign of Big Toe
and Madumo,
and now Colin and Nkgonne
have gone too.
I can only see one, two, three,
four, cubs
..and five, slightly hidden.
It's really strange, um,
I can't see six.
But let's see what Rea might say.
I could only count five cubs.
How many did you count this morning?
I'm not so sure. I saw
there's one suckling over there.
Yeah, I am seeing five.
It's not a very good sign.
There is a possibility
this could be the work
of some of the intruder males
we've been having.
I mean, the worst case is
he could be dead.
I really want that
not to be the reality here.
It would be a hard thing for them
to lose one cub,
to lose one member of the pride.
Lion cub mortality
is naturally high,
with eight out of ten lost
in their first two years.
One of the biggest dangers is adult
male lions from outside the pride.
Vianet to the team.
This could be the worst news
to break to everybody.
There's only five cubs
that I can see.
I'm not sure
..whether we lost one
..but, um, it looks like it.
Over.
Yeah, roger that, Vianet.
Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that.
I think it's always wise
to kind of just, if you can,
take a step back sort of emotionally
from any wild animal,
but particularly
when it comes to young cubs,
because bad things happen,
that's why lionesses give birth
to so many because the majority
of them actually don't make it.
But obviously, you spend days
watching these animals
and watching them grow.
You can't not have hopes and
aspirations for their futures,
as you would with any,
you know, youngster.
So, yeah, it is sad.
But it doesit does happen.
Greg has found Xudum the leopard
further north than
he's ever seen her before.
She's scent marking -
letting male leopards know
she's ready to mate.
This is an interesting area
that Xudum's in,
because she's right on the edge
of her northern boundary.
Xudum is crossing into
disputed territory.
Her main rival is a female
called Bontsho.
Nearby, Greg finds Bontsho.
I can see her.
She's resting on a branch of a tree.
She's much bigger than Xudum,
which is interesting.
She's an impressive female,
very impressive.
Bontsho's a powerful cat. One swipe,
or one bite in the wrong place,
and Xudum could be injured
to the point
where she wouldn't be able
to sustain herself.
Leaving Bontsho,
Greg finds Xudum again.
She's even further into
the disputed territory.
She's on a little bit of a mission,
doing a bit of a patrol.
What's really interesting is
Bontsho's not far from us,
just in the tree line above here,
soit's a bit close.
What is Xudum doing?
She's just stopped
and she's staring into a bush.
She's running now.
Why are you running?
Why are you running?
Oh, no! Oh, my word!
Oh, it looks like Bontsho.
Xudum's off!
She's just jumped into a tree.
Argh!
Bontsho's following.
Xudum is so scared,
she's planted herself
right up at the top of this tree,
andBontsho's holding
holding the middle.
I don't know,
if Bontsho goes further up here,
Xudum's going to be in trouble.
She's coming down.
What?! They're close, they're close.
They're getting really close.
They've just jumped down!
Both of them.
ENGINE STARTS
They're kind of doing
a parallel run,
which is a classic leopard
behaviour.
They're arching their shoulders
and their neck
and trying to look big
and intimidating,
and it's the step
just before physical contact.
Xudum definitely wants to avoid
getting into an altercation
with Bontsho,
because Bontsho's so much bigger.
Bontsho is, like,
frothing from the mouth.
She's pushing Xudum a little bit
further down south.
Xudum's not hanging about.
Xudum is heading back towards
her own territory,
and safety.
What a wild situation.
That was intense.
Xudum is lucky not to have
been hurt.
Her search for a mate continues.
After fleeing
the intruder male lions
Hello, boys!
..teenagers Colin and Nkgonne
have been found by lion scientist
Robynne.
After the altercation,
when we had a look at the GPS data,
we actually saw that Colin
had beelined
straight to an area where they seem
to be hanging out quite a lot.
He moved about 15km,
and that's usually an indication
that, you know, they've had
an altercation with bigger males.
Moving away from the main pride
suggests Colin and Nkgonne
are finally heading out
on their own.
This is a really tricky time period,
I think,
in Colin and Nkgonne's life.
They're going to have to dodge
the adult males. That's going to be
their biggest threat.
And obviously they're going to
have to continue
to hunt on their own
and build strength.
Life can be quite tough for a male,
especially if they end up
on their own.
Their chances of success is much
higher when they are together.
The annual flood
is on its way at last.
Anna and Greg are driving north
to check its progress.
Hey, Greg, I'm starting to notice
huge numbers of game around.
Is that a sign
that we might be close to the flood?
100%.
It's quite extraordinary, isn't it?
There's so many more animals
in this area.
We must be very close to the edge.
BIRDS CALL
I think I can also hear fish eagles,
and fish eagles are a good sign
that we're near water,
so, yeah, I think we're close.
Oh! OK, I don't think this is
a mirage, this is actually water.
That is beautiful.
I never knew it would feel so good
to see water.
At the driest time of year,
this landscape is transformed.
Rainwater from mountains
hundreds of miles away
is flowing down the Okavango River,
surging out across the dry land.
What starts as a trickle
swells to a flood
..creating one of the largest
inland river deltas in the world.
I really, really hope
this reaches camp,
because I'm elated to see the water,
so I can't even imagine how
all of the big cats
are going to feel
when they finally set eyes on that.
We made it.
What a spectacle, eh?
It is absolutely stunning.
It's going to transform
the whole place.
It's a river that just empties
into the desert
at the driest time of the year.
So it's, like, perfect timing.
It couldn't be better, really,
for the life here.
It takes this water two months
to fan out across the delta,
and it spreads out through
1,000km of channels.
Beneath us is literally just
ancient Kalahari sand.
The flood brings new challenges
for all of the big cats.
Xudum the leopard is going
to have a big shift,
because the flood plains are now
unavailable to leopards so
there will be a lot more competition
for the remaining dry land areas.
Pobe the cheetah, how she's
going to move will also change.
The lions I suspect won't have to
adapt and shift as much.
Strange how it's beneficial
for some cats
and complete disadvantage
for others. Yeah.
That's going to be really
fascinating to see that play out
in front of us.
Rea is also checking out
the progress of the flood
..and has found one of the Okavango
Delta's most elusive big cats.
We've got a cheetah just over here.
Not sure yet who, though.
It's Neelo, Pobe's daughter.
We've not seen her for over a year.
How cool is that?
She's actually back in the area
that she grew up in.
Neelo is two years old, the only cub
of resident female cheetah Pobe.
Now mature, Neelo lives separately
from her mother.
It's fantastic, she's still here,
she's still alive, she's with us,
and she's come back home.
She's looking super keen, hey, and
pretty motivated - it's nonstop,
she's just looking around, scoping
out, seeing what's in the area.
A couple of impala in the distance.
I actually think
she's going to go for it.
She's started, she's They're just
going right through the water there,
splashing all around.
Bit of a tussle.
GROWLING
I think she's going to get it down.
It's Oh, man, you can just see
how strong she is to do this.
She's got it down.
She's got the impala down.
This is her kill.
Loads of vultures
just incoming here.
It's crazy how fast that they react,
that they've seen it
and they're coming up to the kill.
The vultures pose little threat.
The problem is who they alert.
There's a lion coming in there!
It's Colin, it's Colin,
I can see the collar there.
It's Colin. He's coming.
There's another one there.
It's Colin and Nkgonne.
They're headed straight to Neelo.
Crossing through this channel.
Who cares about crocs?
There's food the other side.
Without the pride to help them hunt,
Colin and Nkgonne need to take
any opportunity to find food.
We're not sure where Neelo's gone.
I actually didn't even
see her run off.
But I don't think she's
going to stay close
knowing that these big lions
are in the area.
They're having a little bit
of a tussle there now
..swinging the impala around.
They're social cats
until food is involved,
then it's every man for himself.
Colin and Nkgonne's survival outside
the pride isn't guaranteed
..but sticking together
gives them both a better chance.
Mating leopards overnight
is exactly the news
Brad has been waiting for.
Trist, Brad.
I've got male and female tracks.
The trail leads
into wild sage bush -
a perfect hiding place
for mating leopards.
My hope is it's Xudum.
Neither of us have got a visual yet.
It's a really, really thick area.
We don't want to push 'em too hard.
MUFFLED CALLS
That was them mating.
They are just moving slowly
and slowly away from us.
It's right in the heart
of Xudum's territory,
so I'm almost certain it is her.
If Brad is right, it's important
that Xudum is mating with Mosweu,
the dominant male here.
The mating process has to happen
repeatedly before she can conceive.
They'll mate hundreds of times,
normally every 30 minutes,
every 45 minutes,
for several days at a time.
Before Brad can identify
the leopards
..three lionesses from the pride
interrupt the mating pair.
What the hell?
They likely heard
the leopards mating.
Chaos. Chaos, chaos, chaos.
And all I wanted to find
was leopards mating.
It just shows you never know
what to expect out here.
One of the lions targets
a particular patch of wild sage
She's pretty determined.
..right where Brad spots Xudum
and her mate.
Er
..Trist, Trist!
Our leopards are mating
right on the edge of the sage,
um, and we've got a lioness
going into it.
Yeah, copy. Coming!
Lions can be three times bigger
than leopards.
Xudum could easily be killed
in a fight.
Heard these leopards mating
and is now zoning in on them.
When it rains, it pours!
Things get even more complicated.
Trist, we are in three leopards
here,
so we've got three leopards here.
There's another male leopard
following these two that are mating.
It's Mosweu.
The male leopard's got his nose
to the ground trying to pick up
the scent of the mating pair.
Xudum is with another male
on Mosweu's turf.
But before he can do anything
about it
This lioness is just
sneaking in on them.
She's going to chase him.
..Mosweu is driven off
by the lioness,
while Xudum and her mate disappear.
Got a mating pair,
Xudum and a male, finally,
we've got another male leopard
coming in chasing those two
..and a lioness comes in
and chases the male
that's chasing the mating pair.
I mean, it's just unbelievable.
Old Xudum doesn't do anything
in half-measures.
I mean, talk abouttalk about
a complicated first romance.
Let's, um, keep an eye on trees,
because Xudum,
that will be her default, I think.
There she is. There's Xudum,
up a tree, as predicted.
Oh, what a morning!
With no sign of either male leopard,
the pairing is over.
This male wasn't that scared, eh?
I had a look at him,
I got a shot of him.
It looked like Mosweu.
Me too. I also thought that.
She's got that
"What just happened?" expression.
I think even she can't believe this.
Leopard pregnancies last
just over three months,
so the team will have to wait
to find out if Xudum will be a mum.
All I want is her to mate properly
and have cubs.
But what a morning. One of the most
insane mornings I've had in years.
The intruder male lions are back,
and right in the heart
of the Xudum pride territory.
They're looking, they're looking.
They really look like baddies.
With dominant males
Big Toe and Madumo still missing,
the intruders could be moving in
to take over the pride.
I don't know what's caught
their attention,
but I think they're going to be
hyper-alert,
hyper-aware being inside
this territory.
Something They've seen something
off to the north.
Um, Vianet.
I can see cubs.
The mothers with cubs.
Just spotted the lionesses
with the cubs.
Guys, um,
something's going to kick off here.
This is something
I really don't want to witness.
We've got all of the Xudum cubs
here.
This could be a complete disaster.
Seemingly, some of the cubs
seem oblivious to the danger.
Can see them playing
behind the females.
The future of this pride
is in those tiny cubs.
In the mind of a male is,
if you kill cubs,
it brings the mother into oestrous
and you can mate with her.
It's a simple but brutal process,
and it's just part
of lion behaviour.
They don't want to become friends
with these females,
they want to get rid of any trace
of Big Toe and Madumo.
But the pride females
are not backing down.
You know what? One part of me
is saying those four females,
they are not to mess about with.
They're not young females,
they're very experienced,
very disciplined and very powerful.
OK, one of them is up on his feet.
He's got that kind of
arrogant posture.
They were able to intimidate
Colin and Nkgonne,
but I think it's going to be a very
different story with these females.
They've got so much,
too much to lose.
LOW GROWL
OK, he's moving in.
His coalition partner is over there.
Where the hell are Madumo
and Big Toe?
She's baring her teeth.
Ah, I've never seen this before.
Baring her teeth,
facing towards those guys.
I think they can see each other.
This is bloody intense!
Hell hath no fury like a lioness
protecting her cubs.
In my time as
a wildlife film-maker,
I've never witnessed this level
of threat to cubs before.
Hours pass,
and the standoff continues.
I'm going to switch
to the night-time camera
just in case things kick off
after dark.
We can see much clearer
with this camera.
So we've got the two males
in the foreground,
and I can see females and cubs
on the termite mound.
He's moving out.
This is encouraging.
The pride's mothers have kept
the intruders at bay
..for now.
This could be
the best-case scenario,
is that these boys just move along.
Vianet, I think this guy's
about to walk close to you.
God, he's showing me his teeth!
Just right behind my car.
Um What do you mean?
He's behind the car?
He's showing me his teeth.
He's showing me his teeth.
Oh, BLEEP. Stand up, stand up.
Guys, he's right by the car.
Yeah, stand up, stand up, stand up.
Shall we drive the car forward?
No, he's going, he's going.
BLEEP
Vianet?
Is your heart pumping?
It was too scary -
he was baring his teeth.
VIANET LAUGHS
This is one of the top predators,
you know, on the planet.
The females were just too big
a challenge, too much risk for them.
But I have thought that maybe
Big Toe and Madumo
are losing their grip.
I think this is a sort of clear sign
that if they don't get their house
in order,
they're going to lose
they're going to lose their cubs.
The team lost the mothers and cubs
during the night.
At first light, they're out
in force, trying to track them down.
I'm south of boat station,
but I can't seem to find anything
at the moment.
Rea and Sets have found signs
the intruder male lions
are back yet again.
I have lion tracks.
With no trace of the females
and cubs, concern is growing.
Rea, just to double check,
have you found intruder tracks?
That is a confirm, Gordon.
Just west of the baobab.
Radio comms are quite broken,
but I think Madumo and Big Toe
have been located.
After ten days away,
the dominant pride males,
Big Toe and Madumo, are back.
They've shown up at a really
important time because the threat
from intruding males is something
that never goes away.
Right on cue,
intruders are spotted nearby.
One of the intruders again.
It's all kicking off.
Madumo has just spotted
one of the intruders,
and we could be in for a showdown.
Have you got visual of him?
Jeez, he's bombing!
He is bombing.
There are tracks
on both sides of the road.
Now, in this instance, Madumo is
going to chase the intruder
for quite a number of kilometres!
You know, this situation has been
brought about by the fire,
by the flood,
by the size of this pride,
by the size of the territory,
the number of lions
that want to move in here.
It's got to that point that it's
absolute chaos, it's a war zone.
Madumo is chasing one intruder
north.
GROWLING
Big Toe is challenging the other.
That's Big Toe roaring like a
LOUD ROAR
..like a king.
He's calling a hell of a lot.
It seems like he wants Madumo
to come with him
to teach this young male a lesson.
But Madumo has got his own things
to deal with.
That is powerful.
It's basically a message
to the intruder,
"I will kill you."
Madumo is already two miles away
and not giving up.
We've got this intruder just running
past, and Madumo behind.
Is he going to pick up the pace?
I think he is.
He's starting to run again.
Unless this intruder
is completely insane
..he'd better keep running.
Madumo chases the intruder
almost eight miles,
before finally letting him go.
The intruder males,
they have realised that they are
out of their depths here,
and they're not ready to do
a pride takeover.
Keep going, pal.
Keep on walking.
They realise that the
Xudum pride males
are not to be messed with at all.
He must be knackered.
That right there
is the look of defeat.
Madumo is not managing to pick up
the scent. He's headed back.
Dominant pride males Big Toe
and Madumo have won this battle,
and protected their family.
As Gordon and the team
follow them back
..almost the whole pride
comes to greet them.
Oh, wow.
How many individuals can you see?
15, maybe.
15! That's more than I have seen
so far.
Yeah, what an incredible thing
to see, eh?
All of these lions together in one
spot for the first time in so long.
Madumo's just settled down
into the grass.
I'm so chuffed now.
I'm really chuffed.
I know for sure
that the cubs are safe.
Let's just, yeah,
enjoy this while we can.
GROWLS
As the annual flood draws thousands
of Cape Buffalo into the area
Uh-oh!
These buffaloes are not happy.
..the Xudum pride lions
face their biggest challenge yet.
Oh, my word, here comes the bull.
Get out of there!
They're in the water.
The cubs are panicking.
Oh, my gosh.
We could lose one of these lions.