Lion kills its mate in Talala forest area

19-09-2009
Lion kills its mate in Talala forest area
Times of  India
Print Edition

Following a fight between a lion couple, a six-year-old lioness was killed at Dhava beat in Talala Gir forest area.

The mutilated carcass of the lioness was recovered by forest officials of Gir west and postmortem was conducted. Officials put the cause of death as infighting.

"This incident is rare but not uncommon as among wild animals, especially lions, males take over the female completely and she might try to flee showing 'pseudo estrous' (false pregnancy). Till the lion gets smells indicating she is in heat, he will not let her go and keep trying to mate with her," said a forest department official.

Explaining the wild cat's behavioral pattern, he added, "The lion becomes more and more aggressive till the lioness is completely out of her cycle and the smell goes."

Another such case took place in 2002 in Gir. Since then, this is the first such incident reported. As the carcass found was two days old, it appears the fight must have taken place three days ago. The lion might have been fatally injured and succumbed later, said the official.

"Fights of this nature do take place. But generally they're mock fights and lions don't injure their mating partners. It's only don't injure their mating partners. It's only when the female tries to escape, that the lion injures her to make her bow to his wishes,' said another official.

He added that after a fight between two lions over territory, the victor takes the loser's place in the pride. In such a situation, if a females is in her monthly cycle he gets immediately attracted to her. If she resists too much, such attacks take place.