Birth of a Pride: Lion Conservation (Full Episode) | SPECIAL | Nat Geo Animals

Africa, Botswana, over a century of hunting, has left some areas silent. A loneliness and a grown daughter are the last remnants of a pride that once roamed here. By the mid-2000s, this paradise could have been lost in the mists of time. A footnote in the tales of places where the big cats once ruled. But then, two things happen. Hunting in this remote area is stopped, and impossibly, two male lions arrive from nowhere. These mysterious lions have been waiting years for the gunshots to stop. At last, they respond to the silence beyond the river and start a series of forays into the female's land. Today is their day, and this is the moment of hope for the lions in this paradise. Our sophisticated thermal cameras capture their story and their journey in search of the last females of the pride beyond the swamp. This is the best way to see into the world of these cats persecuted by humans until they learn a better side of us, and we go into the darkness with them. A heat signature stays behind like a shadow, just like their scent as they search for signs of the two lonely females. We call the two females Bolelo and Laboni, Hot and Light. Bolelo's eyes, as you will see in the daylight, are hot, dark red. Her father was shot before she was even born. She takes her cues from her mother, and for the first time in years, the night reverberates with lion song. This beautiful harmony will signal the end of an era, a new story of hope, and the birth of a pride. Over the next few months, the courtship mating and early life of stability keeps the males around and attentive to the females. With the silencing of the guns, other survivors start arriving at the waters of the Cylinder Spillway in northern Botswana. Months later, the males find themselves the center of attention of six tiny replicas of themselves. Both Bolelo and her mother, Laboni, have given birth. Most females have to work hard to convince males that the cubs are theirs. Not here. There are no competing males. For the first time in decades, buffalo have ventured into the area as well. They attract attention. It's new, daunting prey for the two females. And as we follow into their world of darkness, it's into a realm of heat signals and hidden behavior. The two females are inseparable. They're lethal on the hunt. As bold as this mother-daughter combination is, it usually takes a full pride to bring down a Bolelo's warm eyes hint at her hunger to follow. But they have a small problem. One little male cub barely notices, as if he's already made up his mind what to do today. The lionesses have an additional imperative though. They know they drew first blood last night, and the buffalo is weakening. But with each passing hour, the blood trail becomes someone else's to follow. So close, and yet so far. Caught between multiple difficult choices, the two females take the leap. The choice they must make is whether to leave the cubs, hunt, and then return, or take them across first. The decision is not unanimous. The cubs' instinct is to follow their mothers. But all it takes is one voice of dissension to unravel a perfectly good plan. It sometimes takes courage to stand off to one side when your peers want to move forward altogether. The mothers are losing control. With each attempt, fewer cubs are convinced they can male cub, this party is going nowhere. It's been two hours. Four cubs are finally convinced. But the objector has a cohort. His sister. The females decide to go all the way. As they cross the halfway mark, skirting the hippos, everything seems to be going according to plan. Out here, chaos can quickly turn to death. Every time a cat is in the water, it's at high risk and extremely anxious. Finally, one by one, the draggled and scared cubs emerge, each with this grand adventure behind it. Most of them, at least. Two never even tried. It's a bad time to try now. The crocodile has moved into position. Even on the bank, the cubs are a target. The Borneo and Balelo don't hesitate. They both throw themselves right at the danger. The incident triggers that maternal instinct once again. Cubs have taken this all in attentively. Neither mother has had much experience at this. They're confused. Stressed. And anxious. With the water churned up, even more crocodiles and hippos have been attracted. But now, the four cubs are alone. Unguarded. The females are learning that they just can't keep everyone happy. It's an impossible choice. You can drag a cub to water, but you can't make it swim. Ultimately, the loudest voices attract their attention. And once again, the females swim the gauntlet. Every move is watched. Monsters emerge from the have chosen. We don't know if lions can do the calculations, but today they know where they must be. Then, a giant threat. One that will change everything here today. Once again. Elephants on the exact path to them. Balelo reacts with fire in her eyes. The crossing is busy today. A bad time and a bad place to be having a family crisis. The inexperienced mother now makes another classic mistake. To satisfy the cubs, Balelo lets them suckle. The only thing that follows suckling is play, not swimming. She and Laboni are now separated. That's okay for both sets of cubs, but not for the objector. To reunite the pride and find food. One more chance, but they won't follow her. Each crossing and its troubles reinforces the idea that this side is the safest place to be. Despite their last desperate calls, she must finally give up on them and commit them to the night. Our cameras are now used as silent witnesses to their night of terror, while the four cubs huddle warmly under the protection of their mothers. In the darkness, the little male and his sister wait expectantly. If you are this vulnerable, someone will be hunting you down. Lion cubs have been living and dying like this for hundreds of thousands of years. At dawn, the two devoted mothers make one last check before they move on off to the herds. There is a blanket of thick silence over the river today. We don't know if lions feel emotions or if their sense of loss is the same as ours, visit has paid off. Their reunion is complete. The females instincts to return were exactly right. This time, Laboni leads the way and doesn't make the mistake of suckling hungry cubs. If they want milk, they'll have to follow to get it. And that is going to involve some swimming. And at last, the two wayward cubs take to the water. The pride is finally, joyfully reunited. Up ahead, their prey hasn't been claimed yet. But there are a few problems. First, they have to cross more water. This time, the little male leads the way. Now, the two females seem reluctant to immediately leave the cubs behind again. The fledgling pride goes on the hunt, all together. It's unusual and dangerous. But there is a much larger threat than buffalo today. Nomads, wanderers that follow the herds, preying on anything. Laboni knows that aggression is the best form of defense. It is quick and decisive. This influx of nomads is another disruptive artifact of safari hunting, a territory without male lions. The free fall destabilizes prides and creates a wild west atmosphere of kill or be killed. So she sets the boundaries clearly with fangs and claws. Without Laboni's quick attack, the four nomads would simply overwhelm them. But then, something quite unusual happens. A temporary truce. And they all turn their attention to the buffalo. Now, leaving the cubs is impossible. With the blood of her rivals on her, Laboni blocks the nomads and leads the hunt, while Bolelo keeps the cubs at her feet. Suddenly, the nomads follow her lead. The hungry, the desperate, the innocent, are all caught up in the moment, united very briefly to kill, to bring down this colossal quarry, unknown lions, and their first buffalo kill in just a few days. And the males? The result of decades of hunting has left the new males with a mass of territory to cover. When they do return periodically, it's an event in the cubs' lives. A time to be reacquainted, and for the young male, a chance to go boldly, where others fear to trade. It has consequences. The slightest wrong reaction could cause the massive killer standing over him to snap out of being a tolerant father in an instant. It takes a certain strength of character to go up against a male lion over five times your size, but cubs have the ability to disarm aggression with sheer cuteness. Like the day of the zebra kill some months later. Just after the kill, he spots his usual challenge. The pride males are visiting again. Their regal position prevents them from getting down and muddy. The cub is just the opposite. He is determined to leave his mark on these males. Over the months, he breaks down the male's resistance to him, simply by greeting and playing constantly. And he develops a stronger bond with one of the males, or perhaps it's one male that simply gives in to the cubs' incessant efforts to win him over. As the prey base steadily increases here, and the females go off hunting, it is the male cubs bond with his brothers that will better serve him. He needs to develop a relationship like the two pride males, to fight off the competition to come. It is vital to the pride. At 14 months, the pride has not lost a single cub. Now, each day is about learning and bonding. Lessons that will strengthen them as a functioning pride. And each afternoon, Laborni and Bolelo take them off into the fields of prey to practice. Every step of their progress is watched by the males. At nearly two years old, a glimmer of maturity shines in their eyes, and shows on the young male's necks. Once again, when Laborni and Bolelo take the teenagers out to hunt, our thermal cameras reveal just how different the male cub and his brothers perform. He's characteristically bold, but he triggers the hunt far too early. Stealth is less of an issue for him, more an optional extra. It's a bumbling chaos. The real question is whether they will ever learn, or if they will learn in time for what has come in their way. The young pride is in an intensive phase of learning how to hunt, but it just isn't working. Now their time as cubs, the free ride phase of their lives, is running out. In Salinda, the real riches for sub-adult lions lie in the isolated islands, in the dark. These are one and a half ton beasts of violent aggression. Tonight, the mothers hang back and leave it to the teenagers. The young male and his siblings are better at this kind of hunting. It's less formal, more a game of make it up as you go along. And what starts is just a game quite suddenly turns. One hippo makes a giant mistake. They pull off the impossible, a momentous kill for them. Tonight they conquered their fears and opened the window of knowledge. They realize they can kill hippos. As they develop their skills, the hippo bones start to mount up across Salinda and drives them to the riverbanks each day. This pride has never quite adapted to these crossings. Even with their cubs almost the same size as them, Laborni and Bolelo must lead the way. Like most teenagers, they burn off energy fast, playing, pretending to be hunters, refining the kill with sharp claws safely sheathed. Those will come out tonight. As it turns cold in the winter evenings, Salinda develops a chill. Some of the smallest creatures have to find food to convert into energy and are constantly on the move. Not the lions. They huddle up and sleep it off, totally oblivious to the things that go bump in the night. Nothing wakes them, even the pitter-patter of rodent feet past their noses. The male lion is often the first to rouse the pride. He's a teenager and midnight is his hour to get hungry. He senses he may just have stepped on something. Approaching three years now, his mane is slightly larger even than his brother's. A benefit or a handicap? Tonight his ambition has got him into a difficult situation. He's going to need rescuing again. As a decoy, he's done his job using hippo hunting skills. They isolate a large old buffalo and within moments the rest of the pride are on the bull. The bellows cut through the night and send a signal to the resident males. hesitantly go about the kill. It's who's killing it that the male wants to understand. don't rush to greet their fathers. Something in their voices warns them off. Laborni and Bolelo can only listen to the fights in the darkness for days and months and seem to know that there's nothing they can do to alter the outcome. It's the lion's way. The expulsion of grown cubs is as old as life or death itself on these plains. The next phase sends them away into a nomadic life. In Solinda, the sins of the past trophy hunting era have been turned back. A recovery from two original females to more than 60 lions now wandering this paradise. To achieve that, the pride has to endure one last expulsion by their restored. A testament to what can happen when we do silence the guns.