A Video Listicle Script on the Mapogo Lion Coalition

The Mapogo Lion Coalition: A Tale of Warriors and Legends

We have all seen or at the least, are familiar with Disney’s, The Lion King.  As dark as some aspects of the film are, the reality is that The Lion King is rather vanilla in light of one distinct tribe of lions who over time, were coined the title, “The Mapogos”.  In the world of lions, a pride refers to a group of females namely whereas a coalition refers to a group of males.  Although the Mapogo lions came to be known for their greatness and expansive territories under their stern reign, like many, branched out from humble origins.  Their tale began in the heart of the Sabi Sands reserve in the northeastern region of South Africa.  Born into the Sparta pride, were 10 cubs – five of which were male.  Now anyone who knows of the Mapogos and their legend knows that their coalition was comprised of six males.  You may be wondering if there were five males, where is the sixth member? – His time to shine comes a little later into the story.  From the beginning throughout their cub lives, it was clear that the cubs were destined for something special.  One clear example of this was on one fateful day, five of the ten cubs were tragically killed during a buffalo hunt.  The five who remained and narrowly missed a similar unfortunate fate were none other than the Mapogos.  It was not until 2003 when the sixth member would join the pride.  It is not reliably known where exactly his origins were, but at about four years senior to the cubs, a new male came into the picture.  That male was none other than Makhulu.  Usually when a new male is introduced, it is a rather unpredictable and vulnerable time for both: those being intruded upon and the intruder himself.  It can go either way: with an air of welcoming and acceptance or with a blood battle and usually annihilation of the cubs as a new male typically sees no purpose in rearing the cubs of a latter male.  Typically, they prefer to start fresh.  This however was not the case.  I guess you could call it another lucky draw in the cards of the Mapogos because this new male did not in fact pose a threat and nor was he threatened.  They took onto each other equally well and to biolgoists’ surprise, Makhulu joined the elite forces of the Mapogos.  As the cubs grew with the passage of time and reached their sexual peak, they were exiled by their fathers to lead prides and hone territories of their own.  Once again, to biologists’ surprise, instead of separating for different ways, the Mapogos remained alongside one another and instead formed their own coalition.  This is the point where they came to be referred to as the “Mapogo Coalition”, a Swazi term that translates to “security” or “jury” and “teamwork”.  Ironically, the coalition came to fit their title rather well – their name fit like a glove one can say.  Considering that the Mapogo coalition was compiled of six members, this was a distinguishing factor from the very start.  Typically, coalitions are not so large in number but this distinct factor may have been the extraordinary advantage that aided them in conquering so much territory with time.  However, having been freshly exiled by their forefathers, it would take some time for the Mapogos to hone the necessary skills they would need to do so.  For starters, they needed to perfect their hunting skills.  Originally, they had to adapt more of an opportunist type of feeding behavior by eating the leftover carcasses of prey hunted by other lions.  However, with time, they were able to master the art of capturing and hunting down buffalo, hippo, rhinoceroses, and even a tricky prey: giraffe.  The Mapogos’ superb hunting mastery as well as their continued sexual maturation where their manes began to be more pronounced, greatly contributed to a newfound growing confidence.  Some may even go to the extent of saying their confidence was laced with an air of “cockiness” because what would happen next stunned many biologists.  As the Mapogos began to enter different male lions’ territories, they began to enter rather dramatically and obnoxiously.  Instead of quietly coming through without intentionally causing much disturbance or ruckus, they started an uproar wherever they set their paws forward.  By roaring, scent marking via their urine, and challenging opponent lions, it is safe to say they caused quite the disturbance.  Instead of waiting for a challenge, they went to the challenge.  This type of behavior led to both negative and positive consequences, the positive mainly being that they were able to conquer so much territory and prides, and the negative being that they were attributed to a dramatic fall in the lion population.  The killing rampage did not exclusively apply to male lions.  Rather, lionesses and cubs were slaughtered in the process and viciously so.  Victims’ limbs were torn apart and often cannibalized upon.  The cannibalistic behavior was one characteristic that attributed a tremendous shock value to the onlooking observers and biologists because this was not something commonly exhibited.  Whether the cannibalism was to make a statement or to truly prey upon is unclear.  One pride that particularly suffered at the paws of the Mapogos was the Ottawa pride which was comprised of three females and their fellow cubs.  The cubs were annihilated and eaten and in turn, the Mapogos proceeded to attempt to mate within the pride as a means to continue on their own bloodline.  The mating caused some uproar and controversy within the coalition itself which actually resulted in one of the lionesses being a casualty as a product of those differences.  But for the lionesses that did survive from the Ottawa pride, they served to continue the bloodline of the Mapogos.  Fast forwarding through time, the Mapogos conquered the majority of the Sabi Sands through their aggressive methodologies.  One can say they reigned with iron paws.

When we hear of the Mapogos, we usually hear of them as a unifying force rather than them individually as lions.  So who were the six special warrior lions that made up the Mapogos exactly?  There was: Makhulu, Prettyboy, Rasta/Dreadlocks, Scar, Mr. T, and Kinky Tail.

Makhulu was the oldest and largest lion of the coalition.  He had a dark colored mane which is a product of higher testosterone levels which most definitely aided in ascertaining his dominance as he was the dominant male of the group for the majority of the coalitions’ reign.  When it came to cubs, Makhulu was observed to be the most patient of the group.  He was also the most solitary amongst the other lions.  Whereas the other members tended to be socially interlinked with their fellow brothers more frequently, Makhulu was seen to be away from his coalition and pride for days at a time patrolling the territory.  Having to patrol such a vast region probably attributed greatly to that solo behavior as well.  Amongst the other lions, Makhulu was the most expert when it came to patrolling and took on that role with pride and precision.

As his name suggests, Prettyboy was indeed a “pretty boy”. Having a windswept and full mane attributed greatly to producing a handsome appearance that many onlookers certainly noted and admired.

Once again, as his name suggests, Scar was named after two scars that were noticed: one on his spine and the other on his left hind hip.

Rasta was named after some matted areas in his mane that made some strands appear like dreadlocks.  For this reason, he was interchangeably referred to as Rasta and Dreadlocks.

Mr. T … Where or where do we start with Mr. T?  Over time, Mr. T actually began to be nicknamed as Satan because of some questionable behaviors that he illustrated – one namely being his massacring and cannibalizing his brothers’ cubs which in human terms would essentially be his nieces and nephews.  That itself is very telling of who Mr. T was as a lion.  Out of all the other lions, Mr. T. stood out as the most aggressive and vicious in nature.  No shocker there.  He was an excellent hunter, a challenger, and rarely let go of an opportunity to get his paws dirty.  One could also say that he was blood thirsty and power hungry.  Whereas the other lions were fairly content with Makhulu as their dominant leader, Mr. T challenged Makhulu for dominance on several occasions.  It was not until Makhulu aged more that Mr. T was actually successful in attaining that long sought after dominance.  As far as appearance goes, Mr. T was characterized by a Mohawk-looking mane – not quite as full and handsome as his fellow coalition counterparts.  But what he lacked in appearance, he most certainly made up for with his iron paws.

Kinky Tail was named after a kink at the rear end of his tail.  Kinky Tail was similar to Mr. T in the sense that he was aggressive, willing to get his paws dirty, and up for any challenge which isn’t very surprising considering that Kinky Tail was essentially the wingman of Mr. T.  Kinky Tail and Mr. T were inseparable and exhibited such a strong and loyal brotherly bond with one another.  Where one went, the other most certainly followed.  I guess this goes to show that even the most iron of iron paws have a soft gooey filling within.

As great as the Mapogo lions were, it is also true as with any other reign, each kingdom has its downfall.  The same was true for the Mapogos.  Although, their legacy does live on today through the bloodline they successfully passed down through the Ottawa pride.  What led to the downfall of the coalition and their command over such vast regions comes down to a couple of culprits.  Firstly, it started with a divide from within.  After a spat between Mr. T and Makhulu, Mr. T left with Kinky Tail to which they formed a coalition of their own – just the two of them.  This was something unique to biologists – the fact that a coalition had divided into two coalitions.  This left Mr. T and Kinky Tail to claim the eastern regions of the Sabi Sands Reserve while Makhulu reigned over the west with the other members of the coalition.  For a while, Mr. T and Kinky Tail were as successful as they ever were with challenging intruders and holding onto their territory.  However, that strong reign was threatened with the intrusion of a new coalition of five young males known as the “Majingilanes”.  Initially, Kinky Tail and Mr. T were successful in making the Majingilanes’ coalition short of one member by brutally attacking one of the members’ to his death.  However, the Majingilanes were not phased.  Instead, they were set on avenging the loss of their brother and were successful in cornering in on Kinky Tail one night while he was patrolling during one of the few instances he was alone.  The saying, “what goes around comes around,” seems to ring hauntingly true in this case.  Just as Kinky Tail was responsible for some gruesome killings, Kinky Tail was just as gruesomely killed to his very last breath by the four Majingilanes.  Unfortunately for Mr. T, he was too late to save his brother but that didn’t stop him from attempting to do so although his efforts proved to be futile.  Seeing as he no longer had his right wing man, Mr. T decided to track down his long lost fellow Mapogo brethren.  He successfully encountered them still strongly ruling and thriving over the western region of the Sabi Sands with prides of their own.  Makhulu was initially skeptical about welcoming Mr. T back and perhaps for good reason for what would end up spiraling with his cubs at the paws of Mr. T.  However, the remaining Mapogos, Prettyboy, Rasta, and Scar readily welcomed back their long lost brother.  After having annihilated the cubs of the pride, Mr. T was able to weasel his way up to establishing dominance over the pride and coalition.  However, that was shortlived because in 2012, yet another coalition of five, the Salatis coalition, intruded and were successful in decimating Mr. T.  Just as Kinky Tail had suffered such a savage end, Mr. T was destined for a similar fate.  The two brothers that had once been so inseparable died deaths that were products of the ferocious lifestyles they had so passionately upheld.  The Mapogos’ power steadily dwindled thereafter.  It is unclear what became of the remaining Mapogos to be exact.  It is predicted that Prettyboy and Rasta were also killed by the Majingilanis after never successfully returning from a patrol.  Makhulu and Scar ended up being the most longlived individuals of the coalition and opted for retreating from the Sabi Sands Reserve entirely after the switch of power from the Mapogos to the Salatis coalition.  As invincible as the Mapogos once were, an inevitable close of an era was bound to happen at one point or another.  They killed until they were killed and drove lions out until they themselves were driven out.  With that, the magnificent Mapogo coalition drifted away into a mysterious, awry sunset where a sun would never rise upon them again.