Cuddly?

Not really.

On our last morning in Sabi Sands we were privileged to come across a small pride of lions having their breakfast.

The old male was fast asleep in the shade, three females who had probably already eaten were lying on sentry duty nearby, and three more females and three cubs were in a gully hidden by bushes. Their breakfast looked as though it had been a young water buffalo, and when we came across them one of the females was happily gnawing away at it.

This young cub sneaked through from the back of the gully past the other two females and started chewing on a piece of the dead beast, only to be chased off by the eating female with a sweep of her paw.

The proper pack feeding order must be adhered to!

You can see, however, from the spot on his nose and the dark areas on the top of his head that he did manage to grab a few mouthfuls! He'll no doubt end up the leader of the pack in due course.