A subadult lion puts the finishing touches on a buffalo calf.

 

A subadult lion puts the finishing touches on a buffalo calf.

The benefits of living in a pride of lions are many, but one of the most important is being taught to feed yourself by the older, more experienced lions of the pride before having to do it on your own. Even just being around the older lions and watching what they do accelerates the cub’s learning, and they can put what they learn into practice at a young age by playing with their siblings, in the relative safety of the pride.

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But eventually, playing and watching becomes chasing, separating and doing the killing yourself. This subadult lion is new to killing, and unfortunately for the buffalo calf in her grasp, is not as efficient as some of her more experienced pridemates. The old saying “you gotta start somewhere” sounds quite odd when it's applied to taking a life, but for lack of a better expression, that's exactly what's happening here.

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