Episode Five

Xudum has yet to successfully rear cubs, but she’s reaching an age where experience should help her raise at least one to adulthood. Nearly two years after losing her last litter, she gives birth again. Female leopards keep their cubs concealed at this time, but a revolution in low light camera technology offers a glimpse of the den. At around four days old, they’ve rarely been filmed this young.

Matho’s lost lion cub has been alone for 14 hours. As night approaches with no sign of his mother, he starts to wander off into the tall, dense grass. At this age, a young cub has little chance of survival on its own, and filmmaker Gordon Buchanan fears the worst.

The team witnesses a baby boom in the Delta. Lioness Matho must protect her cubs alone, while leopard mum, Xudum, reveals her newborns with danger looming nearby.