Lioness Teaches Tiny Cubs to Climb Tree
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Published 2024-04-18
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Michael Moth, a guide at MalaMala Game Reserve, was able to capture this cute sighting. Michael shared the footage and story with LatestSightings.com.
After discovering that one of the resident lionesses had given birth to a cute litter of cubs, everyone was excited to see them. The guides at MalaMala had given the mother and cubs some space in their first few days, just so that the mother was not under added stress. However, on this particular day, the mother lion decided that she was now ready to show her cubs.
As the group got into one of the dry riverbeds and scanned for a bit, the sound of a mother lion caught Michael's attention. They approached the calls and were greeted by the cutest little lion cubs playing with each other. At this point, their mother was already standing in a tree that was not very big.
She looked down on her cubs and let out these low-toned calls. Alerting her little ones that she was up above them. The cubs, with their small legs, frantically ran around the base of this tree, looking up at mom and letting out their own very cute contact calls. It sounded as though mom was trying to communicate with her cubs and tell them to come up.
The little ones, with their tiny legs and small size, thought that this was an impossible task. They found a much smaller branch of the tree that had fallen and thought that this was more their size. They climbed it with ease and looked over to Mom. But Mom did not want them to climb any small branches. She wanted to teach them the skill that not many lions have: climbing a tree.
Leopards are cats that are known for climbing trees, not lions. However, lions have been observed climbing trees on occasion. Sometimes to steal a kill of a leopard that was left in a low enough branch, and other times just for a bit of fun and games.
Mom kept calling her cubs, and one of them understood that mom meant bossiness. So off it went to the base of the tree its mother was in. The cub looked up, and to it, this was an enormous task, but it was determined. One paw at a time, it began climbing, digging its tiny claws into the bark to give it some traction. It inched slowly up until it was only a few inches from its mom.
You could see the great sense of achievement on the cub’s face when it took the last step. Its mother stood there, proud of herself. She first licked it and gave it a nod of approval, almost as if saying "Well done." Then she patted the cub's head and gave it a final lick. After seeing this, the cub's siblings also wanted to get some of Mom's love and affection.
The cub that managed to climb up now looked down and realized that it was really high up, and maybe it was best if it went back down. It began slowly making its way down, all while its siblings were trying to make their way up. However, none of its siblings were able to make it as high as it did. One of them reached halfway to Mom, while the other could barely make it past a few inches off the ground.
In the end, the mom came down proud of all her cubs. Each of them put in an excellent effort in learning this new skill. Some learnt it better than others but in the end everyone of these cubs learnt a valuable lesson that may one day help them in their lives of survival.
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All Comments (21)
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Awesome video of mother and babies interacting together.
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Climbing is one thing, getting down, unscathed is another. Lol
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Those noises they make are so cute.
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Awww… this is so heartwarming. The tenderness with which a fierce animal guides her cubs, encouraging them while staying alert, shows that mothers are the same across species. The cubs are adorable and mama lioness’s patience, love and care are so beautiful ❤️
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The way the mother lion patiently waits and cheers for her cubs is amazing
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Oh so cute, maybe a mother lion is teaching her cub to climb a tree to defend herself😅
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That's beautiful all Mommy's have to teach there babies how life works
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Amazing how she picked a tree with small branch on the ground leading to main tree with leader pub ignored and she made risk assessment to only let them climb a certain height then leader club was praised for its climbing effort before he was to climb down meanwhile being calm, patient and keeping one eye. on the videographer.
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So beautiful. Mama encourages her babies. Calls to them . Talks to them and calms their fears . So lovely to watch their conversations. When baby makes it up to mama, the way she gently paws her baby just makes me grin from ear to ear! We are so privileged to witness bits of these beautiful creatures lives. Thank you so much for sharing. I can’t stop watching this!
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The lioness pushing back the cub is one of the most adorable moments ❤
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I like the way the lioness gently caresses the cub's cheek
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The lioness doesn't seem too impressed to have humans so close to her cubs.
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How sweet is this? Incredible footage of mom teaching a life lesson
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The cubs sounds are so cute!
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Very interesting how the lionesses makes the cub understand its time to climb down with gently touches so the cub doesnt lose the equilibrium
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Beautiful and interesting.
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They are saying so much! How wholesome ☺️
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So glad I'm a Leo... Cuteness mom with her cubs ❤️🦁🦁🦁
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While paying attention as they learned to climb,she was also paying great attention to predators of her ilk.😂
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Tough love is the best love a parent can give to teach through love.
