Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/04/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Just got back from Ranthambhore after a week of very enjoyable wildlife watching at Ranthambhore National Park. The last series of Big Cat photographs from my recent safari to Northern Tanzania depicts Simba Cubs in uninhibited play. As I mentioned, with plentiful food (look at the bellies of the cubs in all the photographs below), a lot of time was available for play - in fact in one instance they used an uneaten wildebeest calf carcass as an impromptu football, and did not show the slightest inclination to eat it, having polished off its mother earlier. The play is deadly serious stuff - it provides practice for and thus hones all the skills that the cubs would need for survival in adulthood. It also determines their pecking order within the pride, and for any male partnerships that might form later. Tag: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tanzania+2012/Tanzania_20120306_07586.jpg.html Boxing: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tanzania+2012/Tanzania_20120306_07599.jpg.html Wrestling: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tanzania+2012/Tanzania_20120306_07601.jpg.html Neck Lock: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tanzania+2012/Tanzania_20120307_08345.jpg.html Right Hook: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tanzania+2012/Tanzania_20120306_07772.jpg.html Painful Bite: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tanzania+2012/Tanzania_20120307_08412.jpg.html Football: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tanzania+2012/Tanzania_20120306_07807.jpg.html The Four Musketeers: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Tanzania+2012/Tanzania_20120307_08426.jpg.html Please see large. Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome Cheers Jayanand