Lion Talk
Man has a major character flaw in being anthropomorphic when it comes to animals. It's difficult not to assign human character traits to animals, though, and I think we are all guilty of it. Me included.
On one particular morning, while driving down one of the gravel side roads, we came upon a lioness with four cubs. I would guess the cubs' age to be between 20 and 26 weeks. They were sturdy, plump, obscenely healthy little guys, still covered in their baby camouflage spots.
Four cubs with vastly different characters, even at that young age. There's the little wimp. You know .... The one who has to stay so close to mama that he runs the risk of being trampled, tripping over his own oversized paws as he trots alongside, stubbornly determined to be as close as possible.
Then there's the one who thinks he's really, really brave, but at the slightest alien sound, he's right there next to mom. When he feels the perceived danger has gone, he lags a bit, head held high, telling the world that he's in total control of his own destiny. Until a leaf blows across the road and sends him literally tumbling in terror towards the safety of his mother, all the while looking around with wide eyes, hoping against hope that he was going to survive.
Number three is the little adventurer. He weaves from side to side along the verges of the road, exploring, investigating, mock-charging his siblings and generally being a total pain in the butt. Occasionally, he'll receive a cuff from his mother for getting into mischief. But he's not down for long, our little hero. His irrepressible spirit soon has him rushing around, incredibly brave and almost dangerously inquisitive, searching for new things to experience.
Then we come to number four. This is the one with attitude! And I mean ATTITUDE.
He watches the Land-Rover approaching with slitted eyes and an impressive snarl. As the vehicle approaches, number one and number two are bundled close to mother, secure in the knowledge that she will protect them from the noisy, smelly "animal" that has suddenly entered their world. Number three stands on the verge, head cocked to one side, gazing in reverent awe at the sheer size of this monster coming towards him down the road. He's debating how he should try to get closer, discover which parts are the tasty bits when he successfully wrestles the new addition to the ground and single-handedly kills it. Quite impressive really for a youngster that probably only stood about 10 inches at the shoulder!
Number four looks disdainfully at the vehicle, turns slowly and with an impressive display of sheer arrogance, drops down to lie comfortably right in the middle of the road.
We stop of course.
He glances at number three as if to say "no need for violence, my mate, THIS is how it's done!"
We are, from that moment on, completely ignored.
Cats are cats! There's a saying that if you call a dog, it will come running to you to see what fun is in store. A cat on the other hand closes its eyes and asks that you leave a message, and it'll get back to you soon. If it feels like it!
Number four stretched, rolled, growled, snarled, stretched some more and generally had a rollicking good time in the middle of the road. After repeated calls from the lioness, he finally, and with very bad grace, got back on his feet and stalked up the road towards his mother. Slowly.
Angling back and forth across the road to ensure that we couldn't get past. Only on his terms, did he finally relent and walk off into the bush without a backward glance.
Job done.
"I AM the king of the jungle, and don't you forget it!"
