This is a cute video of a lion cub trying to roar (we think). The facial expression suggests that this sweet cub is trying to roar like his parents. I believe that the cub is owned by a Kurdish guy who has a presence on Twitter and who lives with an adult lion which he regards as his pet. I think that they live in Iraqi Kurdistan. The man’s name is Blend Brifkani and he runs the Kurdish “American Cooperation Organization” as he describes it.
Please remember that sometimes videos stop working because they are pulled from YouTube by their administrators. I don’t have any control over this and if it has happened I apologise.
Here is a little bit of information about lion cubs. There was a time before much was known about the biology of lions that some experts believed that lion cubs were not born alive and came to life later! One expert, Topsell, wrote in 1981, “Some are of the opinion that the whelps are brought forth without life and they remain like this for three days, until by the roaring of their father and by breathing in their face they are quickened”.
This sounds very strange today. Another rather startling fact is that when a pride is taken over by incoming males they kill small cubs and kick out the older young lions which induces females to come into oestrus and mate with them. It’s rather horrifying to think of huge male lions killing cute lion cubs just so that they can create their own fresh, brand-new lion cubs. It’s pretty brutal out there in the world of lions.
The incoming males sires their own young as quickly as possible in order to protect them. Cubs remain vulnerable to adult males for about two years. Lionesses defend their offspring vigourously and are sometimes killed in doing so. There is a high mortality rate for single females in defending their young. Around two cubs are born in each litter but they can be as many as three. The size of the litter does not vary with the age of the female. In Leipzig Zoo the average size of a lion litter was 3.01 offspring. Some cubs are born with their eyes open while others open their eyes within the first two weeks of life.
Source: Wild Cats of the World.
SOME MORE ON LIONS
