It’s baby season in the Kruger National Park
It’s always a wonderful experience to see wild animals with their babies. The Kruger National Park is currently teeming with newborns and visitors have been sharing sweet moments between fierce predators and their little bundles.
Among them is a hyena mother, trying to take a nap while her adorable cubs climb and clamber all over her. No rest for the wicked.
Interestingly, female hyenas have about three times more testosterone in their bodies than males, making them more muscular and aggressive, according to Africa Geographic. This also leads to females developing a ‘pseudo-penis’, through which they give birth. Females usually give birth to two cubs at a time, but the mortality rate for newborns as well as first-time mothers are quite high as the labour process is extremely difficult for the mothers and cubs often suffocate while being born.
There are also three darling lion cubs, taking immense interest in a tree branch. Finally, cheetah cubs play the day away in Golden Hour.
Cheetahs give birth to litters of three to five cubs at a time, and will move them to different dens often in the first few weeks as they are especially helpless and vulnerable to other predators while the mother is out hunting. The mother will take care of them until they are around two years old, by which time she will leave them to fend for themselves.
Lions also have litters of two or three cubs. According to Lion World Travel, females in the same pride tend to give birth around the same time, creating a community of mothers and newborns that all help raise each other’s cubs.
