How Asiatic lionesses shield their cubs from killer males
Infanticide is common among India's lions, but females have developed a clever strategy to keep their cubs safe.
The lioness known as FLG10 is a good mother and fierce hunter, providing for her cubs in the last stronghold of Asiatic lions in Gujarat, India.
But until recently, no one knew just how extraordinary of a parent she really is.
Like most young females of this endangered lion subspecies, FLG10 reached sexual maturity and mated with members of her primary coalition, the group of males that most frequently patrolled her pride’s territory in Gir National Park.
Then, around 2015, she did something never before observed in lions: She mated with males from a nearby coalition. And then with males from another. (Read more about Asiatic lions and why they’re thriving.)
To the scientists tracking her, FLG10 appeared to
