Big Cats' Diary

The end of year is fast approaching so we thought it was time to give you all an update on the lions (Panthera leo) of Venetia as much has changed in the last few months.

Our adult female Thika and her 2 cubs (1 male, 1 female) finally rejoined her sister Pikanin in mid-September, 5 months later than we expected! Since then we’ve had many great visuals of them together and have especially loved watching the cubs at kills.

The return of Thika coincided with the sub-adults’ splitting from the pride. They’re coping well on their own, making kills without difficulty but are mainly staying in the far south-east of Venetia.

Blade, our adult male, is having a second lease of life, his mane having become noticeably larger and darker in the last few months. We can only assume that it’s in response to increasing competition from males in neighbouring reserves. There’s been many a silent face-off across the fence!

We’re also pleased to report that Blade is not as lazy as we all thought… Although the life of a male lion seems to be mainly sleeping and eating the new GPS collars have changed our point of view. With downloads every 2 hours we can make far more accurate range maps, as well as investigating their movements after hours: and we’ve been surprised. Although we’ve seen Blade in almost exactly the same resting spot several days running, it turns out he’s one for an all-nighter, walking 20km around Venetia and back again.

Julie Kern,

Science Officer,

Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve

Big Cats' Diary