Coalition · Fate unknown

The Killers

Also known as The Killers of the Serengeti Lion Project · Central Serengeti, Tanzania

c. 2009 – unknown

Origin: Central Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

The Killers were a coalition of four male lions in the central Serengeti, Tanzania, followed by the Serengeti Lion Project, the long-term study run by Craig Packer of the University of Minnesota. Researchers recorded them as a group of four ambitious young adult males and named them the Killers for their lethal attacks on lionesses. They are best known as the coalition that nearly ended the life of C-Boy.

In August 2009 C-Boy and his partner Hildur were the resident males of the Jua Kali pride, a small pride near the head of the Seronera River. The researcher Ingela Jansson found C-Boy cornered on a hill by three of the Killers. They attacked him together, slashing and biting at his hindquarters; the fight lasted less than a minute, but left his flanks badly torn, and he later nearly died of infection. Hildur fled. C-Boy survived, but he gave up Jua Kali and moved east with Hildur, where the pair took over the larger Vumbi pride.

The Killers began mating with the Jua Kali females, and later took over the Kibumbu pride along the Ngare Nanyuki River, north of the Vumbi pride; researchers expected them to have killed the young cubs fathered there by the previous males. In 2012 they were seen pushing into C-Boy and Hildur’s new territory, and some feared C-Boy had finally been killed by them, until he was found alive. The names of the four males and how their reign ended have not been published.

Members

F Names not published Four males Born c. 2004 – 2005 (estimated) Recorded by the Serengeti Lion Project; three of them attacked C-Boy in August 2009. Record coming soon

4Members

3Who attacked C-Boy

2009Took Jua Kali

2Prides taken

Profile

Coalition

Members: Four malesIndividual names not published
Relationship: Information not availableNot published
Origin / birthplace: Central Serengeti National Park, TanzaniaNatal pride not published
How it formed: Information not availableThey were already a coalition of four young adults in 2009

Reign

Area: Central Serengeti: the Seronera River area, and north towards the Ngare Nanyuki River
Prides ruled: Jua Kali pride (from 2009); Kibumbu pride (by c. 2012)Reportedly also interested in the Mukoma Hill pride
Took over from: C-Boy and Hildur (Jua Kali pride, 2009)
Reign: Information not availableFrom 2009; how long it lasted is not published
Territory size: Information not available

End

End of the coalition: Information not availableNot published
Successors: Information not available

Names & Meanings

The KillersName

Given by the Serengeti Lion Project for the coalition’s lethal attacks on lionesses.

Not the WauwajiDifferent coalition

Wauwaji, Swahili for “the killers”, is the name of a later six-male coalition on the Namiri Plains. It is not the same group.

Story of the Coalition

Before 2009
Recorded by the Serengeti Lion Project as a coalition of four young adult males, named the Killers for attacks on lionesses.
August 2009
Three of the Killers cornered and attacked C-Boy on a hill near the Jua Kali pride; Hildur fled.
2009
C-Boy and Hildur abandoned Jua Kali. The Killers began mating with the Jua Kali lionesses.
c. 2012
Took over the Kibumbu pride along the Ngare Nanyuki River, north of the Vumbi pride.
2012
Seen marching through C-Boy and Hildur’s territory near the Vumbi pride, with fresh battle wounds. C-Boy went missing for two days but was found alive.
After 2012
Their later history has not been published.

Legend & Truth

Three or four?

The coalition had four members, but only three took part in the attack on C-Boy. Some accounts call them a trio for that reason.

No individual names

Unlike many famous coalitions, the Killers were known by researchers’ codes rather than by guides’ nicknames, so no member records can be made unless their names are published.