[3rd POV]
[Name : Hana Park
Role : Zoologist, Big Cat Specialist]
..
Hana was in the same room where Dr Tonson was in but she was sitting on a different chair. She sat on those stools with no backrest and only had a circular platform that could rotate. She was sitting straight and adequately.
She was staring straight at the camera while she began her part of the scene.
"After Leo's takeover, we noticed a number of things. But by far the greatest thing we noticed was that Leo had lots of sex when given the chance," she said with a straight face, before she paused, and then laughed out loud.
"Why do I have to do this part?" she complained while throwing her hands up, causing the crew and even Dr Tonson himself to laugh behind the camera.
"This is because I'm a woman, right? How sexist," she said but she was all smiles.
"No, it's because you are a big cat specialist and have the most knowledge about lion behaviour. This section of the episode mainly deals with lions and their prides," one of the crew said.
"Okay, okay, fine!!" she said and then regained her focus. She stared into the camera, "Leo has a lot of sex, okay, we realised that all the testosterone he had inside him was not only for quick recovery and muscle building, but also for his libido."
The scene changed from her judging face to the open savannah. A few days had gone by for Leo and the camera panned back to the lion king and the females.
"But who could blame him? He was just a lion suddenly getting access to as many lionesses as he wants. After a month had passed, there were nine breeding flames in his pride. That was enough to bring down any other lion. If you didn't know before, lionesses are much worse than lions when in heat," she said.
The footage showed another scene. This time, it was not Leo and his pride but another group entirely. It showed a male lion running away from females. One of whom actually began biting his balls while chasing him.
"The females would actually resort to biting at the male's testicles when she doesn't get what she wants. They are very demanding when they are in heat," Hana said.
"But Leo handled his nine lionesses like a champ," she said, this time showing Leo yawning loudly while his body was covered with females sprawling all over him, tired but content.
"Now moving on from that specific observation," Hana said, the camera was on her again.
"Leo was a unique lion, that we all know at this point. But when he became the king, his pride became unique along with him. Clearly, it was the influence of their king that they began changing their ways and in a few months, they completely changed from what a traditional pride should act and behave," she said. "When a year passed, you could not group Leo's pride with any other pride that ever existed."
"And it all began from the very first time Leo hunts," she said.
The scene changed. The footage was captured in a greenish light, showing the use of a night vision camera and that it was still dark when this happened. The video showed Leo and his pride lying down in the open savannah, sleeping peacefully.
Leo was sleeping right at the middle of the pride. The lionesses were still a bit uncomfortable with him but the younger lionesses and some that were eager to earn his favour were sleeping close to him.
And then, Leo slowly got up from the group of sleeping lions. He looked at his surroundings, his ears twitched as he listened to the world and then he briefly glanced towards the camera but then looked away again.
After a long yawn, he got up to his feet and began walking away from the pride. The lionesses stirred awake, wondering what the new king was up to.
But Leo paid them no mind and moved away from the pride. The camera panned away and showed another scene. A giant herd of buffaloes sleeping together in the open savannah. They were in the thousands.
Leo walked to the buffalo like the average joe walking into a supermarket. It was obvious that Leo was having some trouble tracking the buffalo without Grim's help since it was night, but he found it soon after.
The hunt itself was nothing worth noting. Leo just walked where the herd was, picked a strong bull that was sleeping before probably mounting that beast and clamping down his jaw at the neck of the prey.
The buffalo offered resistance, but with his starting position that was his own legs under his weight, he could not do much. The surprise element was also a factor.
The bull thrashed around wildly, breaking his own leg when he tried to pull out from under his belly. Dust rose and the brutal sounds of a dying beast were mixed with the deep growls of a lion. Bones cracked, blood splattered out with this gory tune.
The hunt lasted only 10 minutes. By that point, the dead bull was twitching wildly, kicking his feet. The contraction of his muscles pushed out his urine and poop. It was a brutal end of one life.
The scene was not a great battle or fight like Leo's early hunts, but the sheer brutality of death, a silent death at that, was very gripping towards the viewer. It gave them a reality check. Leo was a kind soul, but he was still a predator of the highest calibre. One that must bring death for his own sustenance.
The death of a huge animal like a buffalo was also more impactful than that of a deer or an antelope. How could such a powerful beast, known as Black Death, die so helplessly?
It was truly a terrifying scene.
By the time Leo was done killing his prey, the sun rose from the horizon and the camera also changed into a normal one. Right then, the audience could see the blood that was pooling under the carcass and that covered Leo's own face like some war decoration.
Leo roared towards the sky as if greeting the rising sun.
The herd, the buffalo that were in the thousands, woke up in alarm. They smelled the blood of their fellow bull in the air but the vibration of the roar flipped their instincts.
The herd ran away in a stampede. They did not even try to fight when that should be their instinct. If there was one thing they feared it was Leo, not even other lions.
After the buffalo ran away, they left clouds of dust and an earthquake. Leo's new pride came forward and watched in awe, similar to the audience, as Leo sat over the carcass and began eating it.
After he was done, he took a huge chunk of meat from the buffalo and threw it in the far corner. People were wondering why he did that, until the cubs came towards the meat and began eating it, undisturbed by the adults and not forced to eat leftovers.
After that, he walked away from his kill. He did not eat much, only the shoulder muscles and the organs. The rest of the pride came after and finished the rest of the buffalo.
"The last thing a lion would do after winning a pride is hunt. But this footage was captured the very next day after Leo took over the pride. From the very beginning, everyone knew that Leo was not going to behave like other lion kings. And he did not cross our expectations. He became the only lion to hunt more than his own pride even afterwards," Hana said over the scenes.
"The way he not only spared the cubs of his rivals but also went as far as to care for them and give them their own share of meal, that goes beyond what an animal should do. The hunt was also a great realisation for his new pride. A lion taking down a bachelor buffalo on his own, that was a league they had never seen before. It clearly set up the dynamic between them," she said.
The scene cuts back to Leo as he cleaned his own bloody paws and muzzle while watching the pride eat his kill.
"The pride and a lion share a symbiotic relationship. The lion protects the pride from other lions and dangers, while the lionesses provide for him in terms of hunting food. But the relationship between the pride and Leo was not symbiotic. Leo did not need them, they needed him. And that subtle shift, although most would not notice, goes a long way," she said in the end.
"Leo was a king, a provider, a protector and a father," she said. "These were subtle tells that he would be the greatest of his kind."
...
The scene changed again, this time, showing the savannah with a clear view of the sky. You could see the clouds passing by in a flash, an obvious show of a time-lapse.
Afterwards it returned back to Leo and his pride. The audience were taken aback when they saw the lion. How much time had passed? Because I kid you not, Leo had grown even bigger and more muscular.
"Even after two months had passed, Leo never stopped his peculiar training. He never stopped hunting, never stopped fighting. He was not the kind of lion that let himself go after earning a pride. Quite the opposite, the lion was getting stronger and bigger each passing day," Hana said.
The scene focused on Leo for a while. It showed him strolling through the savannah. His shoulders rolled and you could see the strong fibres of muscles twitching with every move.
They also showed footage of him running in slow motion. There, you could see clearly the muscles beneath the skin.
It was like looking at a bodybuilder lion.
"His hunting schedule of one prey every three days continued. But along with that, he also let his pride hunt with him. This created a surplus that bordered on waste. But if you know the full context, you would understand why the surplus was needed," she said.
The scene now showed vultures crowding the sky in waves. They looked more like dark clouds in the sky than birds.
They flew down and began feasting on all the remains that the lions had left behind.
"The relationship between the vultures and the lions became more pronounced. At this point, the vultures only needed to follow Leo and his pride to find their food. They were basically supporting the sky scavengers with their surplus alone," she said.
The next scene showed lions and vultures resting with many half-finished carcasses around them. It was clear that everyone was thriving.
"But not to worry about overhunting though. The Serengeti was a huge region meant for multiple lions. Leo's dominance made the entire region his, so they were actually under-hunting instead of going over in terms of pure statistics. The region and the animals there could endure more abuse and killing before their numbers dwindled," she said.
The scene showed animal herds in groups. Prey animals that were flourishing in the Serengeti even with the seemingly overhunting nature of Leo.
"I would say, they earned the right to overhunt," Hana commented.
"But it was after the two-month time that we witnessed a drastic change in the pride. The lion pride, known to be territorial and stay in one place, was abandoning that traditional lifestyle in favour of a better one," she said.
"Witness, the first nomadic pride in recorded history," she said.
..
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Author : It was so close but we didn't reach 1000 stones in the 24 hour mark. So only 1 extra chapter.
But I'll see what I can do fle more extra in the coming days, like I said, the documentary needs to quick