Some species, like the apes and elephants, spend many years with their mothers, as she has so much to teach them and a lot of knowledge to pass on. Some species are only with their mothers until she has her next young, which, like antelopes, is only for a year. In that year, though, she can pass on what to eat and what wants to eat them. One of the most difficult to raise and teach, though, are the cats. We are going to have a look at how each of our big cats teaches their cubs and guides them in the right direction as they age.

Playing around

Before we have a look at the individual species themselves, one of the most important things for any young mammal growing up is playtime. It is so important for them to develop and practise hunting skills and tune in their coordination, muscle strength and, with some, bonds between individuals, especially for teamwork. It is also important for youngsters to play with adults, especially as some species need to form bonds too, like lions.

Watching young predators play is certainly one of the most entertaining things you can watch on safari. From the stalk to the chase, the wrestling and then the ‘kill’. All taken very seriously by the little one that is doing the “hunting”. It’s incredible that a lot of this play comes in long before these youngsters have even had the chance to see the adults do it; it is all on pure acts of instinct. Once these youngsters start participating in the hunt itself, these once playful acts shine through.

Lions

When a lioness gives birth to her cubs, she moves away from the pride and has them in a concealed den site she would have scouted out weeks before. She will keep them here for their first few weeks of life, protecting them from other predators. It is only when the cubs are usually between the ages of eight and ten weeks that she will introduce them to the rest of the pride. Lionesses are smart and wait for an opportunity when the pride is relaxed, around a large kill, for example, or even after a large kill, when everyone is well fed and happy.

Once they have been introduced, it does not mean that they will be staying with the pride full time just yet. For a further four or five months, the lionesses will still leave the cubs in places they feel safe. The lionesses do this if they are going to be hunting dangerous game or need to move a further distance searching for food. If they kill something large, they will then go and fetch the cubs, bringing them in to share the spoils. This is where they learn very quickly that as a lion, you need to compete with the whole pride for food, and so you need to be strong and confident.

At about eight months of age, the cubs will start following the adults when they go out hunting. They will not take part in the hunt for more than a year from now, but this is when they get to watch and see how everything is done. It means they will also be present when an animal is still alive, and lionesses will occasionally allow the youngsters to finish an animal off, especially if it is smaller and doesn’t pose any threat to the cubs. This is where they get to practise their killer holds and bites, often practising their asphyxiating bite even once the animal is dead.

When lionesses are about two years old, they will join in on the hunt, while the young males will usually join in a few months later. It is safe to say, though, that lion cubs need to be taught by the adults how to hunt and so spend a lot of time observing before joining in.

Leopards

Much like lionesses, a female leopard would have scouted out a den site where she will give birth to her cubs. Females know their territory intimately, and she may have numerous sites in case she wants to move her cubs if she feels threatened. Caves, root systems, deep drainage lines and even old termite mounds, along with a whole host of other structures, can be used for this.

Cubs are usually introduced to solids at around the age of eight weeks. Their mother will kill something, have a first feed and then hopefully hoist the kill before bringing the little ones in. If she feels there is any threat to the cubs from other predators, she will move the little ones away. Once a meal is done, the female leopard will take her cubs back to the den site or a new den site close by to be hidden again. She may spend some time with them before she leaves them and heads out again.

This cycle continues, and compared to lion and cheetah cubs, leopard cubs actually spend very little time with their mothers in comparison. This means that they do not get the opportunity to watch her hunt very often. This means leopard cubs teach themselves how to hunt through play and trial and error. At first siblings will play, wrestling and stalking one another, but even this only lasts for the first few months. After that, they would rather spend time alone, and that is when they start honing their hunting skills.

At first, birds, squirrels and insects are the main targets. They slowly progress and move onto larger targets as they themselves grow in size and confidence. As they don’t learn from their mother, you find that each cub may perfect the art of killing different prey. Mom may be an impala specialist, while her cub may be incredibly good at killing monkeys, something she would have practised on more. This instinct to kill is far greater in leopards than in the others.

Cheetah

Female cheetahs do not usually choose dens like the other two big cats and will often have their cubs in thick stands of vegetation or even a bush. They stray very far from the little ones, and she will spend the first few weeks concentrating her hunting closer to where they are found. She will try and get them going quite early on, from that stage of around five to six weeks. Soon after that, they will very seldom leave her side.

When it does come time to hunt, the little ones will hold back and watch Mom from a distance. This means they are observing the hunt from very early on, and it doesn’t take long until these fast little guys start chasing things. Siblings are great to chase, but jackals make for great practice too, as they are agile and dodge and weave as they go. Female cheetahs will catch and hold animals for the cubs to practice on more than any of the big cats. She will also start the cubs on this at a young age, even as young as four months.

Youngsters will then start joining and helping their mother hunt from around a year old. Sometimes she will even sit back and allow them to take over completely. When she feels that they are good enough at hunting and killing, she will walk away from them and let them get on with their lives independently. In saying this, cheetah mothers are probably the best mothers of all of the big cats in the way that they train their youngsters for the hunt.

All of the big cats have low success rates when it comes to raising cubs, with only around 15% actually making it to maturity. It’s not always because they are killed by other animals, but simply because being a top predator is not easy. It’s like not everyone can be a top sportsman or woman. Only the elite make it, especially the elite that have the right training.