The urgencies of their hunger had passed by the time we reached the lions and it was time for something more reflective – and perhaps of greater long-term use for the cubs. The lions we had seen the previous day – two females, two male cubs – had been feasting on a buffalo calf, a macabre grin on the face of the calf, as if it was beginning to see the funny side.

The adults were stretched out, in great good humour, as the cubs explored other possibilities of the body before them. One was covered in blood from shoulder to waist and seemed madly jolly about it. The other was chewing rather excitedly at one of the buffalo’s ears.

They had taken over the carcass for themselves, chewing here and there, enjoying what they swallowed but no longer feeding purposefully. Rather, they we learning about butchery, an essential life-skill. The side-teeth of carnivores form a scissor or shear: these are the carnassial teeth and they use them by biting and slicing with the sides of their mouths, in the manner of a cheap gangster with a cigar. Learning to use these tools is a vital part of growing up: it’s not enough just to catch and kill, you must also be able to make maximum use of what you’ve caught and killed.

And these round-bellied bloody-faced cubs were learning all about that: a peaceful and cosy domestic sight deep in the Luangwa night. Then there was roaring filling air: the two adult males, one of them father to these cubs, were on their way. This prompted more action; the adult females moved in on the carcass for an emergency scoff, getting as much down them as they could before the males arrived to claim all the rest for their own. Another useful lesson, if the cubs were still paying attention.

 

 

I was co-leading the Ultimate Luangwa safari for www.wildlifeworldwide.com. Next year I will be co-leading https://www.wildlifeworldwide.com/group-tours/sacred-combe-safari and I will also be participating in https://www.wildlifeworldwide.com/group-tours/festival-of-wildlife-zambia