She’ll make the big kill, either on her own or with her fellow lionesses. They’ll track, ambush and corner countless numbers of gazelle, zebra, wildebeest, and other flighty ungulates. Then, after the kill is made, the male lion will get first dibs on tucking into the feast.
Males will, however, go off and hunt themselves if they don’t have females in their pride, or if food scarcity is so dire that there just isn’t enough to share around.
Here, this gorgeous killer is with her lioness accomplices and cubs on a feast of zebra. That split moment of a connection that I had with her was priceless. She looked up momentarily and gave a gaze that was both intense and intimate. And what a precious moment that was, which is thankfully captured in time in an image.
Here’s to the art- and utility- of photography.