Playful lion cubs learn vital fighting skills from their mom

This video shows the adorable moments between a lioness and her playful cubs, teaching them the important skills of fighting and hunting in a playful manner.

It was just before four in the morning when we decided to follow up on lions that was roaring nearby our camp in the Kruger National Park. While lions are the most feared predators in the African wild, they are also the laziest and sleep the most of all animals. Therefor to see lions in an active state one needs to brave the early hours of the morning or late hours of the night. If you find lions during the day, they will most likely be lying down, resting or sleeping. We ventured out in the direction of the roars. It didn’t take us long to find a pride of fifteen lions. The sun was about to rise and most of the pride members were up and about. The pride had seven cubs and they were the most active. Our timing was perfect to film some incredible lion behaviour during the early hours of the morning.

The pride was spread out around a watering hole with the cubs running up and down. Our attention was drawn to a lioness that decided to join her playful cubs for some early morning playful fighting lessons. The important and powerful skill of pawing came into play. The lioness would paw at her cub, the cub would throw a few quick paws at its mother before the mother would pin down her cub, gripping it in a hold for a short while before releasing again. The interaction between the mother and her cub was so adorable to watch. The whole play and learn scenario was perfectly orchestrated by the mother, teaching her cub the vital skills of fighting as well as hunting at the same time. The pawing, grabbing, pinning down, biting and getting up quickly are all important moves her cubs need to learn to survive out in the wild on their own one day.

During the play session the second cub wanted to be part of the action, biting his brother’s leg a little and in the end thought he also can take on his mother. With two quick swipes of the paw the mother put her cub hilariously back on to the ground. We could see the lioness now was ready to take a break from her teachings while the cubs continued to run a round chasing each other. What a morning, seeing such incredible interaction you will only see if you are prepared to get out of bed very early in the morning.