Big Cats 24/7 (2024) s02e01 Episode Script

1
The Okavango Delta in Botswana
We are in a pristine
environment right now.
one of Africa's last wildernesses
The magnitude of life
here is unparalleled.
and it's a haven
for Africa's big cats
lion,
cheetah,
and leopard.
Big cat country.
Armed with the latest
filming technology,
the "Big Cats 24/7" team
is following individual big cats
for 6 months
This is a unique opportunity
to follow these cats round the clock.
through the day
Rea Schulte to Brinke:
I used to think I'd have
a fair fight with a lion,
not so sure now.
and the night
We've got the most sophisticated
thermal imaging technology.
capturing their behavior 24 hours a day.
I have never seen anything like this.
Epic!
Sets Nthomiwa: They've got the drones.
- Got the drones.
- OK.
The "Big Cats 24/7" team
Pretty cool to have
everyone back together.
is reuniting after 6 months.
Really excited about the first day.
Ach, it is day one,
and I am so excited
because immediately,
there's some ruckus going on.
What a start.
Things are already kicking off.
Based in a remote film camp,
the team is working
in 400 square kilometers
of the Okavango Delta.
It's the driest time of the year.
Prey is scarce,
but where it goes, the predators follow.
This is the southwestern part
of Xudum Island.
Last time we were here,
there wasn't a huge amount
of lion traffic,
but at the moment,
this is where I suppose
the core of the pride is.
Hey.
Oh, wow. Rush hour for the lions.
My goodness,
every one of them is on the move.
That is incredible.
The Xudum pride is now 40 strong.
This is the largest pride
of lions in the world.
Gordon and Sets are with
its most important part
its mums and cubs.
It's so great to be back here
to see all of those cubs
that I met last year.
There are 16 cubs in the pride,
aged between 8 weeks
and 18 months old.
This is a picture of success.
They're here.
They're alive and doing well.
The mothers of the oldest cubs
are 3 of the most experienced females.
The matriarchs are all here
Mmakgosi,
Nosi,
and Magogo.
She's experienced.
She's a phenomenal hunter,
and that's why she's still
prowling the savanna at 11 years old.
Oh, my word, Mathata, you have grown.
Ha ha ha! He's a giant.
That's fantastic.
He was still a tiddler
the last time I saw him.
He was much bigger than the other cubs.
Now he is enormous.
He's become a really handsome young
young male.
You see his mane
across the top of his head,
and around the neck, he's just got
this sort of shagginess to him.
Hey, Mathata. Hey, big boy.
Where are you off to?
Mathata is 18 months old
and maturing fast
He is big. He's gotten big.
but he's still
not able to hunt for himself.
The cubs are growing at a rapid rate.
It puts a lot of pressure on
these mums to provide for them.
These older cubs now need to eat
almost 11 pounds of meat a day,
and their mums face the unrelenting task
of providing all of this for them.
What are we dealing with here?
Definitely just shifted
into that hunting mode.
Magogo, Nosi, and Mmakgosi
have split off
from the rest of the group.
Oh, Mr. Piggy,
the future is not looking too bright.
OK. This is Magogo here.
Every time that
she thinks that the warthog
is gonna look round in her direction,
she stops, and she sinks to the grass.
I was sure they had it.
For lions, life is incredibly difficult.
Starvation accounts
for a quarter of all cub deaths
under the age of two.
They are hungry, and they are active.
With so many cubs in the pride,
the stakes for the lion mothers
are higher than ever.
Gordon and Sets are sticking with them.
Schulte to Brinke: Go ahead, Anna.
Hey, guys, we're just trying to sort of
work out which way we should come.
Anna is joining Rea.
Pobe, Pobe.
I've got Pobe east of the
lagoon in the floodplains.
Ooh, I see her. I can see her.
What an amazing start.
This is day one in the delta,
and we have found Pobe.
It's been 6 months
since we last saw her
and we had some incredible news
since we've been away.
What?
We're looking at two really
beautiful, cute cubs here.
It's quite the time
since we've seen Pobe,
and actually the first glance
we've had of these cubs.
I reckon these two must be
probably between 3 and 5 months old
because they've got
the remains of, like, a mohawk,
and that's their silver
mantle on their back.
Schulte to Brinke:
Usually with cheetah mums,
they try to keep cubs
in nice, thick areas
hidden away from big predators.
Big predators would be lions, leopards,
basically anyone who might be
a potential threat to the cubs.
And can you see
that one is a little girl
and one is definitely a little boy.
For most big cats,
the females just develop
so much faster than the males.
The girl is just so much more
boisterous than the little boy.
She's constantly pouncing on him
and she seems to be the one
that is always taking the lead.
No matter where they go,
she's there with her mum first.
She just seems super interested
in what Pobe is doing.
The fact that she's got
this far with them already
is incredible.
Only a quarter of cheetah cubs
will make it to 3 months old.
The odds are so stacked against them.
Lions are the number-one
killer of cheetah cubs
and they are in a place
that has the biggest lion pride
in the world.
This is a critical stage for the cubs.
Pobe is going to have to work
hard to keep them safe.
The oldest cubs of the Xudum pride
need more food than ever.
That little guy's
Mothers Magogo, Nosi, and Mmakgosi
now must hunt around the clock.
Gordon is preparing for the night shift.
This is our thermal imaging camera.
This camera is a miracle worker.
So much of their lives
are lived after dark.
At night, lions can
see 6 times better than humans.
For Gordon, this incredible technology
lets him see things even the cats can't.
Oh.
These females with their cubs,
they need to hunt.
They need the food more than anyone.
But the cubs
Oh, look at that.
may be biting off
more than they can chew.
It's a honey badger.
For Mathata and all of these cubs,
anything that moves
is worth investigating.
Honey badgers might be small,
but they have big attitudes.
Good. Mathata and his partner in crime
harassing this honey badger,
but that is one animal
that they really should not mess with.
It's, what, maybe a fifth
the size of one of those cubs,
but it is probably 50 times as tough.
They've got an incredibly powerful bite.
They're kind of skunklike,
but instead of spraying,
honey badgers kind of, like,
do these stink bombs.
It's got danger at both ends.
Mathata's probably thinking,
"OK. This is maybe not
something I want to eat."
Honey badgers are nasty.
Looking for an easier meal
Lions are on the move.
the cubs are following their mothers.
They've left Xudum Island.
They've headed westward.
I've never been this far
from the core territory.
There's always a few impala around.
Every little herd has got
at least sort of 15, 20.
Impala alarm-calling.
Oi.
Oh, think we've got
I think they've got something.
I think it's an impala
smothered in lions,
but this meal won't go very far.
Oh, look. Some big male has come in.
Who's this? It's a big male.
Whoa. Who is this guy?
Who is he? Ah, it's Madumo.
Look at his waistline.
I didn't recognize him, he's so skinny.
Huh.
Where have you been?
An adult male lion will eat
8 times as much as a cub in one sitting,
and Madumo's hunger is taking priority.
Madumo is one of two male lions
that are the head of the Xudum pride.
Big Toe is the other one.
Madumo and Big Toe haven't
been seen together for weeks
so things are changing.
It's just not as it was.
Without Big Toe
This is the worst state
that I've seen him in.
Madumo will struggle
to protect the pride.
We may be witnessing the end
of Big Toe and Madumo's reign.
These cubs are really hungry,
really persistent.
Incredibly bold.
The best thing that all of them
can do is just back off.
What a temper.
We're seeing how difficult
it is for a female with cubs
who spend most of the night
trying to hunt,
and when you are
eventually successful
whoa
they're having to share this small meal,
and Madumo is getting
more than the lion's share.
Mathata and the cubs can only watch
as their food disappears.
There's a desperation to him.
Just watching him hog that carcass
on his own without Big Toe by his side,
yeah, he's just an old, hungry lion.
With empty stomachs,
the mums and cubs leave.
Unable to follow,
Gordon calls it a night.
It's morning.
I'll update on numbers soon.
Brad has found the hungry lion mothers
and older cubs.
So she's running now.
Mmakgosi, Magogo, and Nosi
have spotted an opportunity.
This is a leopard
up in this tree on a kill,
and the pride has found him.
When it's really, really dry,
prey is limited, and it's isolated,
and everybody's just bottled up
into one little ball.
This has brought the predator
interaction to a peak.
Leopards stash their
food in trees to keep it safe
but these lion mothers
will stop at nothing to feed their cubs.
This group of lionesses
are known for their tree-climbing,
and I think this is an example
of the advantage of that.
The leopard has no chance against a lion
3 times its weight.
So Mmakgosi has decided
to eat the carcass up in the tree alone
and not share it with everybody below
what a thief
strange thing for the cubs
and the other lionesses.
She's being a little mean.
These cubs are hungry.
They can smell this pig,
and they're desperately trying
to get up and down,
but none of them seem to be winning.
It's almost like she's trying
to get these cubs
to learn to climb trees,
to go and get it.
If they want something to eat,
they'd better climb.
Oh, girl, Mathata.
It's the highest
one of the cubs has gone.
Mmakgosi is coming down
everybody trying to get hold of it,
and she's about to tumble down
with the carcass
and knock the cats out of tree so
Now we're gonna have
absolute pandemonium
trying to compete over this warthog.
Finally, Mathata ha! is there,
can actually eat something.
Everybody is now
on the remains of the carcass.
But scavenging
will provide only a fraction
of the food Mathata
and the older cubs need.
8 lions fighting over a warthog,
totally insane.
The mums must hunt bigger prey soon.
Away from the lions
These cheetahs are on
a completely different
level this morning.
Anna is with Pobe.
Her two cubs are now
growing in confidence
I can see two zebra ahead.
which makes it
even harder to keep them safe.
What are you up to?
There's no chance they'd be able to take
a fully grown zebra down.
They're way too big.
At this age,
cheetah cubs start to show
an interest in hunting
Yeah. They're
moving straight towards them.
What? Hang on. Pobe's running.
Pobe's running. Pobe's running.
but they don't always
pick the right prey.
That was really strange.
That almost felt like
she was teaching the cubs.
She's probably saying, "Look.
"These ones are a little bit
too big for us.
This is not what we want."
A kick from an adult zebra
could seriously hurt a cub.
She's running again.
She's running again.
All she wants to do is protect her cubs.
To keep them safe,
it looks like Mum is stepping in.
It's all playing out
in front of these zebra,
who are very confused.
Oh, this is one thing
I just love about cheetahs.
There's, like,
never a dull moment, really.
They're just so much fun to watch
and the zebra have
kind of got the message,
and they're trotting off
into the distance.
Crazy cubs.
Anna has been
following Pobe for over 3 hours.
I'll just scope you where you are
so Greg is joining to lend a hand.
Thanks, Greg.
Problem.
Hartman, on radio:
Anna, lions behind you.
We've got Pobe and her two cubs
out in the open,
and there are lions watching them.
Pobe has just noticed them now.
Lions are their number-one threat.
They're all sat really still.
Lions are responsible for more than 3/4
of cheetah cub deaths by predation.
Greg, are the lions
looking directly at her?
Yeah. That's an affirm, eh?
It's one lioness that's looking at it,
and a subadult male
and I think there's lions in between
that are still flat.
This is literally the
worst-case scenario
for Pobe.
She's out in the open.
What are you gonna do, Pobe?
Go on. Quickly, Mum. Get down.
If Pobe runs, it could
trigger the lions to chase.
Subadult male is up now.
Ooh.
Stay low. Stay low, Pobe. Just stay low.
That was seriously close.
I'm actually shaking.
Pobe has kept her cubs safe for now.
Classic Pobe, the lion dodger.
She's she's too clever for this,
touch wood.
That was terrible.
It's gonna take a while
for my heart rate to go down.
Brad, Brad for Tristan.
Brad and Tristan
Go ahead.
Just spotted Xudum in a tree.
are searching for female leopard Xudum.
Hey, well done. Nice one.
She's moved to a new area.
She tends to spend less
time around our camp now,
comes in just for water
and then heads out again,
so it'll be very interesting
to catch up with her
and see what's going on in her life.
It's really, really nice
to see Xudum alive and well.
I'm really liking
this area she's moving into.
Last year, both of Xudum's cubs
were killed
by an aggressive male leopard.
She's really pushed northwest,
away from where all
those male leopards are.
It's good for her if she
secures this top section
much more conducive to cubs,
so quite exciting
that she's shifting
her boundaries a little bit.
It's just really nice
to be with Xudum again.
Wondering where she's gonna go.
Xudum is trying to
make this new territory home.
She's out in a very,
very grassy little area.
Normally, this time of year,
she's very interested
in hunting from trees.
Ah.
To be successful here in open grassland,
Xudum must change her approach.
This is a completely different tactic.
She's got to stalk in,
get close, be patient.
Makes our lives a lot more difficult.
They blend in so easily,
and they just evaporate, essentially
so I'm hoping we can stick with her.
Whoa, that's pretty cool.
She just erupted out of the grass.
Someone wasn't ready.
Ha ha ha!
Leopards use
their sense of smell and hearing
to pinpoint hidden targets.
Yes, girl. Nice one.
Looks like she's just got a reedbuck.
She's right on top of it,
and this is gonna be
an amazing meal for her.
Now, that is impressive.
That thing is so much bigger than her.
Probably weighs
1 1/2 times her body weight.
Well done, girl.
Xudum's kill here
gives me a lot of hope.
She's making her own way
and adapting to her surroundings.
It's a really good sign.
There they are.
Anna is with the cheetahs.
There are loads more little pockets
of thick brush.
Pobe is looking for somewhere safe
to spend the night.
OK. Looks like the sun's gonna set soon,
and I'm gonna back off,
give them a little bit more space
and then switch to the thermal camera.
Unlike our lions and leopards,
cheetahs are a predominantly
diurnal species,
which means that their eyes
are much better suited
to daylight hours.
At night, they actually
really can't see a huge amount.
This makes cheetahs
most vulnerable after dark.
There's always a chance that a lion
could stumble upon Pobe and her cubs,
and we really don't want that.
Lions kill cheetah cubs and cheetahs,
so she needs to be alert
to everything in the area.
Cheetahs' night vision may be poor,
but with ears that rotate independently,
Pobe can pinpoint danger
from any direction.
She's got herself right into the middle
of a big, open floodplain,
just so that she can hear
any sounds of danger approaching.
In a safe spot,
Pobe is ready to settle down.
The cubs, however, have other ideas.
God, you can really see that Pobe
is just like, "Guys, it's bedtime.
"Please settle down. Settle down.
It's way past your bedtime,"
and these two are like, "Come on, Mum,
5 more minutes of play."
Think they're just getting rid
of all of their pent-up energy
from the day.
Ooh.
OK.
They are finally settling down.
As good a mum as Pobe is,
she's gonna need to be
on high alert all night.
I really feel for her.
It's a really tough job
being a cheetah mum.
So sweet to see them
cuddled up like that.
Be safe, Pobe, please.
In the morning,
Anna and Rea are still
with the cheetahs
They are awake
and they're looking around.
but Pobe is on edge.
Schulte to Brinke: Anna, I'm not sure
what's happening here,
but Pobe is looking
a little bit scared or agitated.
What? Can you see what she's looking at?
Actually, I can see another cheetah.
Yeah. There's another cheetah here.
There's another cheetah? What?
Oh, you will not believe it, Anna.
It's Sepoko.
Yeah. I can see him. I can see him.
We haven't seen Sepoko in about a year,
and here he is again.
He's just emerged out of thin air.
He is the ghost that we named him after.
He is Sepoko.
He hasn't seen them yet.
They look a bit terrified here.
I don't think they're gonna hang around.
She's getting away from this male.
Male cheetahs can be aggressive
towards adult females,
but Sepoko isn't a threat
to Pobe's cubs.
One really strange
similarity between cheetahs
and domestic cats is that they
both have multiple paternities.
These two cubs could have
completely separate dads.
Female cheetahs mate with many partners
and can carry cubs from different males
in a single pregnancy.
Sepoko could be one or both
or neither of these cubs' dads
This increases genetic diversity
and also helps protect the cubs.
which means that he's not gonna come in
and do them any harm
because he simply doesn't know
if they're his cubs.
Great for Pobe because it means
that she doesn't have to be
concerned about a male cheetah
coming in and potentially killing them,
but I wonder what Pobe is thinking.
She's made a quick exit.
Brad and Tristan are on the trail
of a new female leopard.
Oh. Oh, there she is.
Sorry. Yes.
There's Lediba.
The left-hand side of the face,
she's got one massive whisker pad,
very distinct, very easy to I.D. her.
Ah, little cub. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Lediba has two cubs
Oh, they're so beautiful.
a male and a female.
Cubs most likely
around 3 to 4 months old,
old enough to move around and
climb and do a lot of things,
but nowhere near being able to provide
or fully look after themselves.
She's a really incredible, little cat,
very sly female, similar size to Xudum,
but older.
Being older means
that she's more experienced
more experienced hunting,
more experienced staying alive.
keeping cubs alive.
I have a suspicion
that Lediba is going to end up
turning into one of
if not my favorite cats.
Over the next
few months, Brad and Tristan
will follow Lediba to see if
she can be a successful mother.
I've got a good feeling
that these two cubs are gonna survive.
In film camp
Been chewed on.
Greg is checking camera traps
to see who's been visiting after dark.
We've got a network of 6 camera traps
set up all over the camp just to show us
what sort of creatures
have been moving around,
particularly at night.
It's like being a spy.
Oh, my word, there's a hyena.
This is right here
in front of our main area.
Ha! Hyena is snooping around.
What? Looks like a hyena
has robbed somebody of a kill.
What has he got?
It's a young impala,
and, I bet you,
scavenged from a leopard.
It looks classic leopard crime,
literally walking
right by where I'm sitting.
There's an elephant here
who's strolled right through.
It's quite amazing.
We don't have any fences
around the camp,
and the wildlife just take over.
Oh. There's Jake,
our junior editor ha ha!
going off to bed.
Oh, my word.
It's a lioness.
What? On the ramp.
That's insane
and he wouldn't have had a clue.
I'm gonna be walking around
this camp very differently now
at night, considering what we're
seeing on this camera trap.
Just shows the sheer density
of predators in this place.
Wow. Huh.
No way.
Got 1, 2, 3 big, male lions,
and these are not Big Toe and Madumo.
These lions
are intruding right into the heart
of the Xudum pride territory.
a serious threat to Madumo and Big Toe.
Part of their role as pride males
is to secure the boundary
of the territory
from intruders like this,
and it doesn't seem as though
their security is watertight.
The only sign of Big Toe
and Madumo of late
has been Madumo on his own.
He was looking really skinny
and concerningly ragged.
It seems like the big, dominant
males are at a slight weak spot.
They seem fragile.
These intruders pose
a significant threat
to everyone involved.
Out on the night shift
It just got dark,
and they're already active.
Gordon and Sets,
they're with Mmakgosi,
Nosi, Magogo, and their cubs.
They haven't eaten a decent meal
within the last few days.
Adult lions can survive
two weeks without food
The cubs are looking
a little bit skinny,
and for their sake, I really
hope they get something tonight.
but Mathata and the cubs
need to eat much more regularly.
Females have started moving.
It's zebra they're interested in.
Looks like
all the cubs are staying put
while the mums go out hunting.
They can focus on finding a cub
something to eat.
This terrain they've chosen
is advantageous.
It's thick, which means
they can stalk
and get really close before pouncing.
There's no moon,
and it's the perfect cover
for an ambush.
Think I spoke too soon.
Ha! One cub doesn't want
to be left behind.
She's running after her mum
and they're all getting up to follow.
Every single one of these cubs
is making a little bit of noise
as it walks through the dry grass.
They're not exactly being discreet.
With so many curious cubs in the pride,
hunting is almost impossible
for these mums.
On a night like this,
that noise carries.
Whoa, the zebra know
that something is out there.
Their cover's been blown.
The zebras are gone.
Mathata and the cubs
have lost another chance to eat.
They'll ruin a couple hunts
because they'll want to participate.
It'll be a learning curve for them.
The consequence of a failed
hunt, it is going hungry.
The lion mothers are getting desperate.
And it is ultimately life or death
for the lion family.
If these lions cannot hunt,
they can't survive.
Nthomiwa, on radio: Gordon,
I've lost them in the bush.
Looks like this is it for tonight.
We've lost the lions.
Time to head back to camp.
Anna has now been with Pobe and her cubs
for 3 days and nights.
Hello. Gorgeous.
Wow, that is so incredible
and now the other cub
is gonna come in, I think.
Good morning. Sleep well?
Have some good dreams
of catching impala?
I feel like, as the younger
sibling, I always did
or wanted to do whatever
my sister was doing,
so I can see that playing out here.
Right, who wants to come
and join the party?
With them coming so close to us here,
feels like we're being
accepted into the family.
I feel like I'm seeing
a completely different side
to Pobe this morning.
What I knew of her before was that
she was basically, like,
a bloodthirsty predator,
but motherhood has just given
her a whole new softer side.
She's been cleaning herself
and her two cubs,
and it's so cute to have seen them
licking each other this morning.
They clearly love each other so much.
A lot of the time out here,
it's just, like,
go, go, go, go the whole time.
It's really high-octane,
so it's also really important
to have these moments where everything's
just really chilled and relaxed
and to properly take in
what's happening around us.
Pobe's two cubs, they've got beyond
the most dangerous point
of a cheetah cub's life,
and seeing this family so comfortable
here in this area
and also so comfortable with us,
it's just awesome, so awesome.
Pobe's doing a really good job.
Just behave, you two, OK?
I can see some lions huddled up.
Sets has found
the lion mothers and cubs.
Nthomiwa, on radio:
Gordon, Gordon, copy
After 5 days without a decent meal
Think they might have actually done it.
they finally triumphed.
Think they might be on a kill.
The cubs and the mums,
they've had success,
so it's fantastic.
They've got something to eat.
It's Magogo, Nosi,
Mmakgosi with their cubs.
I can see Mathata there
with his scruffy, little mane.
Whatever that is, not much remains.
This looks like a crime scene.
It does.
What is it?
It's a zebra kill,
well, what's left of it.
The remains of it.
Yeah.
They've polished through
it quite quickly.
Mm.
I was thinking last year,
it's really important
for these mums to get
regular meals for these cubs,
but now the cubs are this size,
it is even more even more important.
Yeah.
You can see Mathata
is almost as big as a lioness,
Mm.
so the pressure keeps growing each day.
It makes me happy when
I see well-fed, happy lions.
This is easy as it gets.
They've done all of the hard work.
Now they can enjoy
the fruits of their labor.
Well, tomorrow will always bring
its own set of challenges,
but I think the challenge
that remains for today
is just ha ha!
trying to sleep off that meat coma,
all of them.
They're all looking
very fat and very happy.
It's exactly how I like
to see this pride.
Mmakgosi, Magogo, and Nosi
have finally provided for
Mathata and the older cubs
Man, on radio: Copy that.
but another,
even bigger challenge is coming.
What?
No way.
Oh, that is a big lion,
a very, very big lion.
It's the intruders
from the camp's camera trap,
and there are not just 3, but 4 of them.
Major update on the lion front.
We've managed to find
the intruder males.
That could be trouble.
Here we are with 4 male lions
a large prime male with 3 subadults,
easily the greatest threat to
the pride that we've had so far.
Coalitions of 4 males are rare.
The team has never seen a group
of this size here before.
We're right
in the Xudum pride territory.
Madumo and Big Toe
normally would be pushing
these intruders out,
but there's absolutely no sign of them.
With Big Toe and Madumo missing
This is really, really bad news.
All of the lion mums and cubs
are dangerously exposed.
The biggest threat to any cub
comes from a male lion,
from infanticide.
The smaller cubs, the more vulnerable.
They're not as fast, not as mobile.
It looks dark
for the pride at the moment,
and they are looking around
with menace and intent,
scent-marking almost every bush
maybe they can smell other lions
and they are moving
straight through the heart
of the Xudum pride territory.