December 13, 2006

Watch out fellow monkeys; the Superlions are here!
posted by xenmate 17 years ago
  • And here, but technically not a double.
  • In a remote corner of Africa, an extraordinary evolutionary tale is unfolding, uncovered by the actor Jeremy Irons and an award-winning documentary team. One rather suspects Mr Iron's involvement in this most interesting story commenced sometime after the 'uncovering' stage.
  • Yes & no. He's uncovering it for the generally ignorant public who do not have access to zoological publications. ;) I am awed by these hugely bemuscled behemoths of the leonine world.
  • I am awed by these hugely bemuscled behemoths of the leonine world. When I first started reading that sentence I thought it was going to describe Jeremy Irons.
  • I, for one, welcome our new ... superleonine ... Oh nevermind, then. I do find the infanticidal lioness a somewhat disturbing concept, though. Does anyone have any idea what that's about?
  • Other people's babies taste better than your own.
  • Seems reasonable.
  • "Does anyone have any idea what that's about?" It's unusual for a female lion to do this, but I'm sure not unheard of, though I've never read anything about it. What is rather more common is when a young male supplants, or fights off the patriarch of an existing pride, he will then systematically kill any cubs fathered by that previous dominant male. This doesn't only happen in lions but in many feline species, actually, even (feral) domestic cats. Sometimes this will happen in various scenarios, there have been cases where alien brother males have done this in partnership to a pride they take over, but more usually it's a single new dominant male. It almost never happens with young males from the same pride because they've usually been driven off, & roam very far, lessening inbreeding problems. The killing of the cubs has two results: the genetic factor of the previous dominant male is extinguished from the pride to make way for that of the new dominant male, & in the absence of their cubs, the females immediately come back into heat. Lions are very complex animals, with a psychological nature that is much more apparent than in other wild creatures. They have personalities. One lion is not the same as another lion in behaviour. Some of them also, rarely, display what in humans would be called psychopathic behaviour: irrational violence & other apparently inexplicable actions. Possibly the female mentioned is of this type. The first thing that occurred to me in reading this was that these animals are isolated, so there is bound to be some inbreeding going on. Inbreeding causes deformities, & often mental retardation occurs before physical signs are apparent. It's possible the female is somehow mentally touched.
  • So do you think the observers should actually step in and take this female out of the equation?
  • That's a difficult one. No. They're not there to interfere with nature. The situation of the isolated pride appears entirely governed by non-human factors anyway, so humans shouldn't intervene. There's no way of really knowing whether the lioness is acting under bizarre inbred brain impulses, or, as the article theorises, is performing some subtle balancing process under the impulse of the laws of selection. They could be the same thing, anyway. I don't think the observers should do anything but observe.
  • Prime directive, donchooknow.
  • No no no. Duck/Scotch.
  • I wasn't convinced, myself, by the balance idea. It seems too small a pride, if nothing else. An inbreeding exacerbated case of psychosis in a complicated animal does make some sense. Thanks, Chyren. Or maybe that lioness thinks it's a bloke.
  • MonkeyFilter: Duck/Scotch
  • Very affectionate lion (SFW)- awwwwwwwwwwww!