Lights off.

[Low growling] Hang on.

We got another lion.

[Loud roaring] I think this is Madumo and Big Toe.

They've come in.

Narrator: The Xudum Pride's alpha male lions are clashing with two aggressive intruders...

They're on them.

They're on them.

Narrator: in a battle to save their whole family.

Aw, geez.

This could be a fight to the death.

Oh, my goodness.

[Lions roaring] Get around it.

They are in hot pursuit.

Big Toe and Madumo have won.

Well, lost them within 2 minutes.

Narrator: But for how much longer can they keep defending their pride?

Narrator: The Okavango Delta in Botswana.

It's wilderness, and it's pure.

Narrator: And it's a stronghold for Africa's big cats-- lion... cheetah... and leopard.

Here, a team of local and international wildlife filmmakers is working together to record the cats' lives like never before.

They'll follow individual big cats for 6 months.

So far, they've battled wildfires... Man: It's getting wildly out of control.

Camp could burn down.

Narrator: and endured drought...

It's desperate times.

It's hostile, dry, and harsh.

Narrator: to capture their behavior... Man: Holy moly.

Lions are scattering.

Narrator: 24 hours a day.

Welcome to the Okavango Delta.

It gets crazy.

[Roaring] ♪ [Insects chirping] [Beep] Narrator: Wildlife cameraman Gordon is searching for the Xudum Pride males after losing them during the night.

There's absolutely no sign of Big Toe and Madumo.

Yeah, I'm beginning to get a little bit worried.

Hope that we come across them.

Here we go.

Big tracks.

Two sets.

Look, look, look.

There.

♪ They look absolutely exhausted.

Big Toe hasn't even raised his head.

It almost looks as if he's no longer with us.

♪ Is he OK?

♪ [Bird squawks] OK.

These boys are looking very, very tired.

They don't have the swagger that they had before.

Narrator: Last night, Big Toe and Madumo fought off two intruder male lions.

Right.

Madumo is up.

Oh, look at this.

Very pronounced limp.

[Low growl] Aw, yeah.

One of our boys was getting properly roughed up, and it must have been Madumo.

Look at how he's walking.

He's in real pain.

It just shows you that there are other lions out here that can match them pound for pound.

Narrator: As dominant pride males, Madumo and Big Toe's main role is to protect their family.

Buchanan: If Madumo and Big Toe lose their power, that just changes everything for the entire pride.

For the cubs, especially, if new males came in, they would kill them without a shadow of a doubt.

[Low growling] Because the Xudum territory is rich, it's a lion paradise, someone's gonna show up.

and gonna knock the crowns clean off their head.

And those days may be upon us.

Narrator: With Madumo and Big Toe injured... the threat of intruder male lions hangs over the pride.

♪ At particular risk are these inexperienced youngsters.

♪ Woman: These two are absolute clowns.

Narrator: Colin and Nkgonne are 2-year-old subadult males.

Colin, that's a wobbly tree.

Nkgonne's joining.

That doesn't look like a good idea.

Narrator: These teenagers are physically bigger than the cubs, but they're not behaving like adults yet.

Dimitriadis: Oh, it's a pose.

His belly is resting on the trunk.

He looks so uncomfortable.

I can hear the entire male population going, "Ooh..." You can definitely see a lot of Colin's character.

He's always a bit more outlandish than his brother Nkgonne.

♪ What is your next move?

Think very carefully about this one.

[Growling] Oh!

He's falling.

He's falling.

[Laughing] ♪ It is utterly hilarious to think that these two are supposed to be nearly independent.

And yet here they are, running around like two big cubs.

♪ Narrator: Colin and Nkgonne are at a critical stage in their lives.

The team is following them to see how things play out.

The "Big Cats" film crew is covering 150 square miles of the Okavango Delta.

After devastating wildfires and now months without rain, the land is bone dry, but this arid landscape has a lifeline.

Buchanan: The Delta breathes fire, that pulse of floodwater that comes in and out, with sort of wet and dry cycles.

We're desperately waiting for that next push of water.

Narrator: The annual flood is yet to arrive, but this time of year is a good opportunity for leopards to breed.

♪ [Purrs] Xudum is the resident female leopard.

At 5 years old, she's ready to have cubs.

Bestelink: She's been eating well, but she's becoming quite a stocky leopard, really filling it up like an adult female, which is quite nice.

She's coming on as a cat.

It's a beautiful thing to see.

I just want her to have cubs.

Narrator: Xudum has recently mastered hunting from trees.

Brad and Tristen are with her in one of her favorite spots.

Woodward: Like clockwork.

She's just got up another ebony tree, positioning herself for potential ambush.

[Animals squawking] ♪ It's a whole big herd of impala just to our south.

Wait one second.

She's just sat up.

♪ She's twitching.

And there she goes.

And she's jumped.

OK. Yeah, bro, she's just jumped out of a tree.

She's got one.

[Beep] ♪ Last time she made a kill, she sat with it for a long time before she started to eat.

This time, it looks like she's not wasting any time to get stuck in.

♪ Narrator: Mating season is physically demanding on female leopards.

Bestelink: I think it's gonna be a stressful time for Xudum.

She's got her work cut out for her.

Narrator: So, Xudum is ensuring she keeps her meal.

Bestelink: Leopards are solitary and quite small, so they rank quite low when it comes to losing the kills to other predators.

Good girl.

She's done well.

She's pushed it up into the fork of a tree.

♪ Narrator: The challenge for Xudum now is finding the right mate.

♪ At camp, Gordon is teaming up with lion specialist Dr. Robynne Kotze from Oxford University.

Um, so that point over there, that's got his GPS collar number.

Narrator: Robynne has known the Xudum Pride for more than a decade...

So, if we open that, that gives us his latest location.

Narrator: and has fitted Colin with a satellite collar.

Let's go... Narrator: Dominant pride males Big Toe and Madumo haven't been seen for days.

With intruder males still around...

Here they are.

Success.

Narrator: teenagers Colin and Nkgonne are particularly vulnerable.

Buchanan: So, you collared him how long ago?

Kotze: Oh, about a year.

We had to fit his collar with space so that he could grow.

Obviously, he's still a growing boy, but we also don't want to fit it too loosely that he can pull it over his head.

We kind of try and monitor them from about 2 years old, expecting that at any point, if the big males decide they're out, that they're gonna leave.

Why would they not want to keep another male in the pride?

At this age, these males will be quite useful in terms of hunting, but now the females will start mating again, and obviously the next litter of cubs will come in.

And when that happens, they don't really want these boys around because they're competition for food.

But presumably if Colin had his own way, he'd just stay exactly where he was.

Oh, yeah.

Male lions, they-- they for sure choose the path of least resistance.

And so it's really easy for him to kind of hang around, let the mums do all the work and still be able to have good meals.

Narrator: At 2 years old, male lions are often pushed out of the family to find a pride of their own.

Kotze: She's not too happy with him being around, and this is kind of what happens now when he's this age, is even the adult lionesses will start showing a little bit of discomfort.

Until they reach their prime--5, 6 years old-- they've basically got to stay out of the way from not only their dads but also big males from other prides.

There's a high likelihood that if they clash they could get killed.

♪ Narrator: To see how the females behave towards Colin and Nkgonne at night, Gordon is rigging the thermal camera.

[Growling softly] Is there somebody out there?

Something, yeah.

Oh, it's a female.

Is that the cubs coming in?

Oh, my God.

That's great!

Look at them!

Amazing.

How many?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5...6.

And the big, big fella.

Yeah.

That's great.

That's beautiful.

[Growling softly] Narrator: The cubs are sticking close to their mums for safety, but the females are on edge.

[Growling] Oh, it's not a very warm welcome.

No.

No.

These cubs are going to approach.

Yeah.

They're actually walking this way.

They are.

Right.

What's gonna happen here?

Has anyone seen the cubs interacting with Colin and Nkgonne before?

I haven't.

It seems like they're trying to introduce them.

[Low growling] ♪ [Growling] Oh!

That-- Oh, that's not good.

That is not good.

Maybe they're just kind of saying, "The babies are here.

You guys better behave."

"Be careful.

Be on your best behavior."

Yeah.

Where's he gone?

Well, he slipped off.

Yeah, he's a bit unsure.

♪ Colin's just over here.

My left.

He's keeping a low profile.

He's making, like, small vocalizations.

I've never actually witnessed this interaction, this really awkward stage.

So this is kind of typical now of what will happen is they keep getting pushed to the periphery.

Colin is in a very submissive position.

Can you see him there?

He's like, head down, non-threatening.

"I'm not even-- I'm not even aware of you being there."

Narrator: As the females become more aggressive towards Colin and Nkgonne, their time within this pride seems to be running out.

Right.

I think we can leave them.

Night, boys.

♪ [Animals calling] ♪ Narrator: While searching for Xudum, the female leopard... Bestelink: Hello, boy.

What a nice surprise.

Narrator: Brad has found a male in her territory.

♪ Oh, I suspect that this is Mosweu.

"Mosweu" means pale-colored, and you can see from his pelt, he's much lighter than most of the males that we see around the area.

No one has seen him for months, so it's like he knows Xudum's in season and he's come home to do the deed.

♪ We know he's an aggressive guy.

He's quite aggressive around the females.

He's a fighter.

Narrator: As the dominant male here, Mosweu is an ideal breeding partner for Xudum, but he will kill any cubs he finds that are not his own.

♪ Woodward: Mosweu, the brute.

♪ [Elephant trumpets] ♪ Rea: We've just got a call on the radio of a dead elephant bull, so we're just going to go and try to investigate this.

Narrator: The bull elephant died at least 3 days ago.

He's a male in good shape.

It could have been a territorial fight here.

This will provide plenty of food for our cats if they do find it.

It could easily feed the entire pride, which could be good for them in these times of drought.

Narrator: The carcass might also attract the intruder male lions.

Vianet and Anna are setting up the thermal cameras to see what unfolds.

Dimitriadis, whispering: There's a hyena.

[Whoops] [Hyenas whooping] Definitely making its presence known.

♪ Narrator: This technology reveals some sights... [Retches] Oh!

that are better left in the dark.

Ha!

[Hyenas whooping] Dimitriadis: That is most disgusting thing I have seen.

♪ There are now 5 hyena here, and so I don't think there's any chance another predator's gonna give it a go.

I think the only thing that's gonna change the dynamics here is if the Xudum Pride turn up in force.

[Hyena whoops] Djenguet: I can hear one of the hyenas vocalizing.

They're facing the opposite direction to the actual carcass.

Something must be going on now.

[Gasps] Two male lions.

[Lions growling] Ooh!

I think that might be--yeah.

That's Colin and his brother Nkgonne.

Djenguet: This is so interesting.

This is so exciting.

Hyenas calling.

[Whooping and growling] [Exhales] Oh, powerful.

Narrator: One hyena is no match for Colin and Nkgonne, but numbers can level the playing field.

Djenguet: 3 hyenas, 4 chasing them away.

I don't know where to focus.

Coming closer.

God, what are you doing this for?

They stood their ground.

[Hyenas cackling, lions growling] Oh, my God!

The big male chased them.

Narrator: After claiming the carcass, Colin and Nkgonne are joined by some of the pride females.

[Growling] Dimitriadis: It started to get quite busy.

[Growling] Ooh!

Nkgonne just went and really sweetly rubbed his forehead on Colin.

Recently, they've had quite a lot of friction with the lionesses in the pride.

It looks like they've done a really good job at shifting these hyenas off the carcass, so I think they've clearly still got a place in the pride, and they're both now just having a snooze together.

They really are the best of brothers.

♪ Narrator: At dawn, Colin and Nkgonne are still with the females at the carcass.

Gordon is keeping an eye on them.

Buchanan: Everyone's in a very playful mood this morning.

♪ This is an interesting situation... [Growling] because although Colin and Nkgonne have got the clear message that they're not wanted around the rest of the pride, with this elephant carcass, it's brought all of these lions together.

It seems that the females have definitely shifted their attitude towards these two boys.

It might be an inconvenience at times, but in this scenario, it's good to have Colin and Nkgonne around.

Narrator: The elephant carcass has brought the pride together, but there's still no sign of Big Toe or Madumo... ♪ and now cameraman Sets has picked up the intruder males, who are on patrol.

Less than 100 meters away are Colin and Nkgonne and one pride female.

Buchanan: Incoming two intruders.

Sets is with them, and there could be an encounter with Colin and Nkgonne.

They seem to be up and moving towards where Gordon has Colin and Nkgonne and the other female.

We might have a conflict because the intruder males don't belong here.

♪ [Growl] So the female has started calling.

Narrator: The lioness is contact calling, trying to find the rest of the Xudum Pride.

[Growls] She's risking alerting the intruder males to her exact location.

Buchanan: They will hear that call, the call of a female, and they may well come this way, not knowing that this female is backed up by two males, Colin and Nkgonne.

[Growling] She's just picked up the volume of that call.

♪ [Growling] ♪ Nthomiwa: They seem to be trotting.

Something seems to be brewing.

An interaction is imminent.

♪ [Growling] Buchanan: So if you can see my vehicle, I'm sitting with the female.

She's up on a termite mound.

The males are coming straight towards her.

Colin and Nkgonne, they're behind me.

Nthomiwa: The intruder males are within 50 meters of the female and probably, like, 70 meters from Colin and Nkgonne.

♪ Buchanan: The intruder's seen the female, but he's ignoring her.

I think he's recognized that there's a bigger lion behind her.

Oh, my goodness me.

These intruders are walking straight into trouble.

What on earth is going to happen?

Colin and Nkgonne are behind me.

Narrator: Colin and Nkgonne might look imposing, but they're only half the weight of an adult male lion.

♪ Nkgonne's moving.

Right.

This is gonna come to something.

Two Xudum boys against two intruders.

OK.

Heads are up.

[Growling] ♪ What's happening?

So are they pulling out, man?

The trouble is at your back.

What are you doing?

Colin and Nkgonne are moving out.

They're pulling out.

Intruders are over here.

They're moving in.

This is an aggressive approach, and Colin and Nkgonne have bottled it.

Nthomiwa: One of the intruder males is chasing Colin and Nkgonne away.

Buchanan: This is the territory that Colin and Nkgonne are not prepared to fight for, at least not with these two guys.

Intruders chasing them out, and they're going.

Off they go off into the distance.

My word.

Who'd have thought it?

Just with the last of the light, I'm seeing that this female is not giving the intruder a warm welcome.

[Growling] I think Colin and Nkgonne, as soon as they got their eyes on these guys and saw how big they were, they weren't taking any chances.

♪ Narrator: In the morning, Vianet and Rea are looking for Big Toe and Madumo... Can't see anything.

Narrator: but there's still no sign, and with Colin and Nkgonne now also gone, they're checking in on the pride's mums and cubs.

Rea: They've been looking behind continuously.

We've had intruder males coming into the territory of our cats, and if these intruders were to find these cubs, they would kill all of them.

♪ Djenguet: Count actually 1, 2, 3, 4 cubs and 5 slightly hidden.

It's really strange.

Um, can't see 6, but let's see what Rea might say.

I could only count 5 cubs.

How many did you count today, this morning?

I'm not so sure.

I saw this one suckling over there.

Yeah, I'm seeing 5.

It's not a very good sign.

There is a possibility this could be the work of some of the intruder males we've been having.

I mean, the worst case is he could be dead.

We really want that not to be the reality here.

It would be a hard thing for them to lose one cub, huh, to lose one member of pride.

Narrator: Lion cub mortality is naturally high, with 8 out of 10 lost in their first 2 years.

One of the biggest dangers is adult male lions from outside the pride.

Djenguet: Vianet to the team.

This could be, um, the worst news to, uh-- to--to--to break to everybody.

There's only 5 cubs that I can see.

I'm not sure whether-- whether we lost one, but, um, it looks like it.

Over.

Yeah.

Roger that, Vianet Yeah.

Sorry to hear that.

[Beep] I think it's always wise to kind of just if you can take a step back sort of emotionally from any wild animal, but particularly when it comes to young cubs, but it's--obviously, you spend days watching these animals and watching them grow.

You can't not have hopes and aspirations for their futures as you would with any, you know, youngster, so yeah, it's--it is sad... but it does-- it does happen.

♪ Narrator: Greg has found Xudum the leopard further north than he's ever seen her before.

♪ She's scent marking, letting male leopards know she's ready to mate.

Greg: This is an interesting area that Xudum's in because she's right on the edge of her northern boundary.

Narrator: Xudum is crossing into disputed territory.

Her main rival is a female called Bonzo.

♪ Greg: She's on a little bit of a mission, doing a bit of a patrol.

What's really interesting is Bonzo's not far from us, just in the tree line above us.

Hmm.

It's a bit close.

What's Xudum doing?

She's just stopped, and she's staring into a bush, watching.

She's running now.

Oh, wait, wait.

Oh, no!

Oh, my word!

Oh, it looks like Bonzo.

Xudum's off.

She's just jumped into a tree.

Ohh!

Bonzo's following.

♪ [Growls] Xudum is so scared.

She's planted herself right up at the top of this tree and Bonzo's holding-- holding the middle.

I don't know.

I hope--if Bonzo goes further up here, Xudum's gonna be in trouble.

She's coming down.

What?

They're close, they're close.

They're getting close!

Oh, my gosh They just jumped down... [Truck engine starts] both of them.

♪ They're kind of doing a parallel run, which is a classic leopard behavior.

They're arching their shoulders and their neck and trying to look big and intimidating, and it's the step just before physical contact.

Xudum definitely wants to avoid getting into an altercation with Bonzo because Bonzo's so much bigger.

Bonzo is, like, frothing from the mouth.

She's pushing Xudum little bit further down south.

Xudum's not hanging about.

♪ Narrator: Xudum is heading back towards her own territory and safety.

Greg: What a wild situation.

That was intense.

Narrator: Xudum is lucky not to have been hurt.

Her search for a mate continues.

♪ There were reports that the annual flood is finally on its way... ♪ so Anna and Greg are driving north to check on its progress.

Xudum Island would normally look completely different at this time of year.

It would be surrounded by floodwater, but the flood is really, really late.

It has been a long journey.

I think we've been going for about an hour and a half now.

Hey, Greg.

I'm starting to notice huge numbers of game around.

Is that a sign that we might be close to the flood?

Greg: It's the same.

It's quite extraordinary, isn't it?

There's so many more animals in this area.

We must be very close to the edge.

[Birds squawking] I think I can also hear fish eagles.

and fish eagles are a good sign that you're near water, so... Yeah.

Think we're close.

Whoa.

OK.

I don't think this is a mirage.

This is actually water.

♪ That is beautiful.

I never knew it would feel so good to see water.

Narrator: At the driest time of year, this landscape is transformed.

Rainwater from mountains hundreds of miles away is flowing down the Okavango River, surging out across the dry land.

What starts as a trickle swells to a flood... [Elephant trumpets] creating one of the largest inland river deltas in the world.

I really, really hope this reaches camp because I'm elated to see the water, so I can't even imagine how all the big cats are gonna feel when they finally set eyes on that.

We made it!

What a spectacle, eh?

It is absolutely stunning.

It's gonna transform the whole place.

It's a river that just empties into the desert at the driest time of the year, so it's, like, perfect timing.

I mean, it couldn't be better really for the life here.

It takes this water two months to fan out across the delta.

Beneath us is literally just ancient Kalahari sand.

Narrator: The flood brings new challenges for all of the big cats.

Greg: Xudum the leopard is gonna have a big shift because the flood plains are now unavailable to leopards, so there will be a lot more competition for the remaining dry land areas.

Pobe the cheetah how she's gonna move will also change.

The lions, I suspect, won't have to adapt and shift as much.

Strange how it's beneficial for some cats and complete disadvantage for others.

That's gonna be really fascinating to see that play out in front of us.

Rea is also checking out the progress of the flood and has found one of the Okavango Delta's most elusive big cats.

We've got a cheetah just over here.

Not sure yet who, though.

♪ It's Neelo, Pobe's daughter.

We've not seen her for over a year.

How cool is that?

She's actually back in the area that she grew up in.

Narrator: Neelo is two years old, the only cub of resident female cheetah Pobe.

Now mature, Neelo lives separately from her mother.

That's fantastic.

She's still here.

She's still alive.

She's with us, and she's come back home.

She's looking super keen, hey, and pretty motivated, is nonstop.

She's just looking around, scoping out, seeing what's in the area.

A couple of impala in the distance.

I actually think she's gonna go for it.

♪ [Impala brays] She started.

She's--ohh-- just going right through the water there, splashing all around.

♪ Bit of a tussle.

♪ [Neelo growls] I think she's gonna get it done.

It's--oh, man.

You can just see how strong she is to do this.

♪ She's got it down.

She's got the impala down.

This is her kill!

♪ Loads of vultures just incoming here.

It's crazy how fast that they react, that they've seen it, and they're coming up to the kill.

Narrator: The vultures pose little threat.

The problem is who they alert.

A lion coming in there.

Oh!

It's Colin, it's Colin.

I can see the collar there.

It's Colin.

He's coming.

Damn!

There's another one there.

It's Colin and Nkgonne.

They're headed straight to Neelo.

Who cares about crocs?

There's food on the other side.

Narrator: Cheetahs are no match for Lions.

♪ Rea: We're not sure where Neelo's gone.

I actually didn't even see her run off, but I don't think she's gonna stay close knowing that these big lions are in the area.

[Growling] ♪ Huh!

They're having a little bit of a tussle there now.

♪ Swinging the impala around.

♪ They're social cats until food is involved.

Then it's every man for himself.

Narrator: Colin and Nkgonne's survival outside the pride isn't guaranteed, but sticking together gives them both a better chance.

Mating leopards overnight is exactly the news Brad has been waiting for.

Bestelink: Trist, Brad.

Woodward: Brad.

I've got male and female tracks.

Narrator: The trail leads into wild sagebrush, a perfect hiding place for mating leopards.

Bestelink: My hope is that it's Xudum.

Neither of us have got a visual yet.

It's really, really thick here really.

We don't want to push them too hard.

[Leopards growling] ♪ That was mating.

They're just moving slowly and slowly away from us.

It's right in the heart of Xudum's territory, so I'm almost certain it is her.

Narrator: If Brad is right, it's important that Xudum is meeting with Mosweu, the dominant male here.

Bestelink: The mating process has to happen repeatedly before she can conceive.

They'll mate hundreds of times, normally every 30 minutes, every 45 minutes for several days at a time.

[Mating growls continue] Narrator: Before the leopards can be identified... [Lion growls] ♪ 3 lionesses from the pride interrupt the mating pair.

Bestelink: What the hell?

Narrator: They likely heard the leopards mating.

Chaos.

Chaos, chaos, chaos.

All I wanted to find was leopards mating.

Just shows you never know what to expect out here.

Narrator: One of the lions targets a particular patch of wild sage... Bestelink: She's pretty determined, Narrator: right where Brad has spotted Xudum and her mate.

Uh, Trist, Trist.

The leopards are mating right on the edge of the sage, um, and we've got a lioness going into it.

Woodward: You have company coming.

Narrator: Leopards are typically wary of lions... [Low growling] ♪ but Xudum has let her guard down.

♪ Bestelink: This lioness heard these leopards mating and is now zoning in on them.

It rains, it pours.

Narrator: Then things escalate even further.

♪ Uh, Trist.

We are in 3 leopards here, so we've got 3 leopards here.

There's another male leopard following these two that are mating.

Narrator: It's Mosweu.

Bestelink: Male leopard's got his nose to the ground, trying to pick up the scent of the mating pair.

Narrator: Xudum is with another male on Mosweu's turf, but before he can do anything about it... Bestelink: This lioness is just sneaking in a little.

She's gonna chase him.

Narrator: Mosweu is driven off by the lioness while Xudum and her mate disappear.

♪ Got a mating pair, Xudum and a male finally.

We've got another male leopard coming in, chasing those two, and a lioness comes in and chases the male that's chasing the mating pair.

I mean, it's just unbelievable.

Xudum doesn't do anything half measures.

I mean, talk about-- [Truck engine starts] talk about a complicated first romance.

♪ Let's, um, keep an eye on the trees because Xudum, that'll be her default, I think.

There she is.

There's Xudum up a tree as predicted.

Oh, what a morning.

Narrator: With no sign of either male leopard, the pairing is over.

Bestelink: This male wasn't that scared, eh?

I had a look at him.

I got a shot of him.

He looked like Mosweu.

Me, too.

I also thought that.

♪ She's got that "What just happened?"

expression I think she--I mean, she can't believe this.

Narrator: Leopard pregnancies last just over 3 months, so the team will have to wait to find out if Xudum will be a mum.

Bestelink: All I want is her to mate properly and have cubs.

Heh.

But what a morning.

One of the most insane mornings I've had in years.

♪ Narrator: Dominant pride males Big Toe and Madumo are still missing.

And now Rea has spotted male intruders in the heart of their territory.

Djenguet: They're looking.

Looking.

They really look like baddies.

Narrator: They could be making a move to take over the pride.

♪ Buchanan: I don't know what's caught their attention, but I think they're gonna be hyper alert, hyper aware, being inside this territory.

Something.

They've seen something off to the north.

Nthomiwa: Um, Vianet, I can see cubs.

♪ Djenguet: The males.

Lioness with cubs.

[Lions growling] Guys, um, something's gonna kick off here, and this is something I really don't want to witness.

Buchanan: We've got all of the Xudum cubs here.

This could be a complete disaster.

[Growling] Nthomiwa: Seemingly, some of the cubs seem oblivious to the danger.

I can see them playing behind the females.

Buchanan: The future of this pride is in those tiny cubs.

♪ In the mind of a male is if you kill cubs, it brings a mother into estrus, and you can mate with her.

It's a simple but brutal process, and it is just part of lion behavior.

They don't want to become friends with these females.

They want to get rid of any trace of Big Toe and Madumo.

Narrator: But the pride females are not backing down.

You know what?

One part of me is saying those 4 females, they're not to mess about with.

They're not young females.

They're very experienced, very disciplined, and very powerful.

Buchanan: OK. One of them's up on his feet.

He's got that kind of arrogant posture.

They were able to intimidate Colin and Nkgonne, but I think it's gonna be a very different story with these females.

They've got so much, too much to lose.

♪ [Growling] ♪ OK.

He's moving in.

His coalition partner is over there.

Where the hell are Madumo and Big Toe?

She's baring her teeth.

Ah, I've never seen this before.

Baring her teeth facing towards those guys.

I think they can see each other.

This is bloody intense.

Buchanan: Hell hath no fury like a lioness protecting her cubs.

♪ In my time as a wildlife filmmaker, I've never witnessed this level of threat to the cubs before.

Narrator: Hours pass, and the standoff continues.

I'm gonna switch to the nighttime camera just in case things kick off after dark.

We can see much clearer with this camera.

So we've got the two males in the foreground, and I can see females and cubs on the termite mound.

♪ [Growling] ♪ He's moving out.

This is encouraging.

Narrator: The pride's mothers have kept the intruders at bay...for now.

Buchanan: This could be the best-case scenario is that these boys just move along.

The females are just too big a challenge, too much risk for them, but I have thought that maybe Big Toe and Madumo are losing their grip.

I think this is a sort of a clear sign that if they don't get their house in order they are gonna lose-- they're gonna lose their cubs.

♪ Narrator: The team lost the mothers and cubs during the night.

At first light, they're out in force trying to track them down.

I'm south of Port Station, but I can't seem to find anything at the moment.

Narrator: Rea and Sets have found signs the intruder male lions are back yet again.

I have lion tracks.

Narrator: With no trace of the females and cubs, concern is growing.

Rea, Rea, just to double-check.

Have you found intruder tracks?

Rea: That is a confirmed, Gordon, just west of the baobab.

Radio comms are quite broken, but I think Madumo and Big Toe have been located.

♪ Narrator: After 10 days away, the dominant pride males Big Toe and Madumo are back.

♪ Buchanan: They've shown up at a really important time because the threat from intruding males is something that never goes away.

[Growling] Narrator: Right on cue, intruders are spotted nearby.

[Roar] Rea: One of the intruders right here.

[Indistinct] It's all kicking off.

Rea: Madumo just spotted one of the intruders, and we could be in for a showdown.

Have you got visual of him?

Geez.

He's bombing.

He is bombing.

Rea: There are tracks on both sides of the road.

Now in this instance, Madumo is going to chase the intruder for quite a number of kilometers.

Buchanan: You know, this situation has been brought about by the fire, by the flood, by the size of this pride, by the size of the territory, the number of lions that want to move in here.

It's got to that point that it's absolute chaos.

It's a war zone.

Narrator: Madumo is chasing one intruder north.

[Growling] Big Toe is challenging the other.

♪ Djenguet: That's Big Toe roaring like a... [Roaring] like a king.

[Roaring] Greg: He's calling a hell of a lot.

It seems like he wants Madumo to come with him, to teach this young male a lesson, but Madumo has got his own things to deal with.

[Roaring] Djenguet: It's powerful.

It's basically a message to the intruder "I will kill you."

Narrator: Madumo is already two miles away and not giving up Buchanan: We've got this intruder just running past and Madumo behind.

Is he gonna pick up the pace?

I think he is.

He's started to run again.

Unless this intruder is completely insane, he better keep running.

♪ Narrator: Madumo chases the intruder almost 8 miles before finally letting him go.

Rea: The intruder males are very aware that they are out of their depths here, and they're not ready to do a pride takeover.

Buchanan: Keep going, pal.

[Lion growling] Keep on walking.

Rea: They realize--heh heh-- that the Xudum Pride males are not to be messed with at all.

Buchanan: They must be knackered.

Rea: That right there is the look of defeat.

Madumo's not managing to pick up the scent.

He's headed back.

Narrator: Dominant pride males Big Toe and Madumo have won this battle and protected their family.

As Gordon and the team follow them back... ♪ almost the whole pride comes to greet them.

Djenguet: Oh, wow.

Ha ha ha!

How many individuals can you see?

Rea: 15 maybe.

15?

That's more than I have seen so far.

Greg: Yeah.

What an incredible thing to see, eh, all of these lions together in one spot.

It's the first time in so long.

Narrator: The pride may have lost one cub, but the others are all alive and well.

Djenguet: Every single cub counts, but equally, they often don't make it for their first year.

Yeah, I'm so chuffed now.

I'm really chuffed.

I know for sure that the cubs are safe.

Let's just, yeah, enjoy this while we can.

[Growling] ♪ ♪ "Big Cats 24/7" is available with PBS Passport and on Amazon Prime Video ♪