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A lioness carrying her cub walks along a river with steady, careful steps. Download the free PDF and bring this lovely wildlife scene to life with color.
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Download PDFPrintA lioness walking with a cub dangling from her mouth, a river at right, stones, tufts of grass and a tree behind.
Use pale blues for the river and earthy tans for the path.
Draw a map of the lioness's route to a new hiding spot.
A lioness usually has between one and four cubs in a litter.
A lioness carrying her cub is a surprisingly gentle sight. The same mouth that can bring down a zebra holds a baby by the loose skin at the back of its neck without hurting it, controlling the pressure with incredible precision.
The cub helps out in its own way. As soon as its mother grips that spot, it goes still, tucks up its legs and quits wiggling. Many cats share this reflex, house cats included, and it makes the trip a lot easier. Eventually cubs get too heavy for this method and start following on foot instead.
Lionesses switch hiding places several times in those early weeks, and scent is the main reason. If babies stay in one spot too long, their smell builds up and could bring in predators like hyenas. A mother will also move her litter if she senses danger, if the den floods or if strangers wander close.
Relocating a whole litter takes patience, since she can only manage one cub at a time. She carries the first to safety, tucks it away and heads back for the next, even when that means repeating the trip again and again. It's a devotion that matters enormously at a stage when her babies depend on her for nearly everything.
