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I am super excited.

I'm just trying to find Matho, who's got cubs.

I can see 3 heads, 3 little cubbies.

There's new life in the Xudum lion pride.

Mathata and the older cubs. They're playing too rough.

But for these cubs to survive...

One of Matho's cubs is going to get hurt...

worse...killed.

They'll need the protection of the whole pride.

The Okavango Delta in Botswana.

The Okavango Delta just--it's a perfect place.

And it's a stronghold for Africa's big cats:

lion...

cheetah...

and leopard.

Here, a team of local and international wildlife

filmmakers is working together to record the cats' lives

like never before.

They'll follow individual big cats

for 6 months...

Ah!

That is beautiful.

in a world that's transformed.

Uh-oh, they're in the water.

They're capturing the cats' behavior...

Whoa!

They're running straight towards her.

24 hours a day.

Welcome to the Okavango Delta.

It gets crazy.

Lion cubs are something else.

Vianet is with new mum Matho and her cubs.

Even if you are the most complex person

on this planet,

just seeing those cubs, that changes completely everything.

The Xudum pride is now more than 30 strong.

This is unbelievable.

They just look no different to our domestic cat

at this very stage.

Ah, beautiful!

Lionesses give birth away from the pride

to keep their newborns safe.

This lady here, that's Matho.

Matho is one of the older females in the pride.

She was spotted by the team earlier this year with a cub,

but that was the only sighting.

So we presume he died.

Djenguet The good news is, Matho has given it another go,

and this time she's got 3 of them.

Under 3 months old,

this is a critical time in the cubs' lives.

A life of a lion cub, it's unbelievably fragile.

Only 1 in 5 will make it to adulthood.

Lionesses usually raise their cubs together

in a nursery group known as a creche.

And they are so vulnerable,

so vulnerable at this point

because they rely so much on their mother and also

vulnerable to any predator.

Creching increases cubs' survival by over 25%,

but Matho's litter is much younger than the other cubs

in the pride.

This sort of creching dynamic would be really

difficult for her.

She's completely out of sync with other females and their

cubs, who are so much bigger than her cubs.

And it can be easily injured if not killed,

by their own friends and family members.

It's gonna be tough for her and for the cubs.

The "Big Cats" team is covering 150 square miles

of the Okavango Delta.

The annual flood is drying up, and it's growing hotter

by the day.

All right, let's go.

The team is living alongside Africa's wildlife.

It's gonna be a clash .

You just want to be slow and not cause

too much excitement.

But two 5-ton bull elephants could easily

flip a vehicle.

Oh, look. On the left. Watch out!

Danger averted.

Brad is searching for his favorite big cat.

Yeah, I got a visual.

Copy that.

Xudum the leopard is pregnant

and her cubs are due any day.

Such a clever cat.

How can you not get attached to such a beautiful animal

with such personality?

She's looking skinnier.

We haven't seen Xudum eat in at least 5, 6 days.

She's running out of time to catch a meal

before she gives birth.

This is proving tough at the moment.

She's hungry.

She is actively hunting.

She's obviously seen something.

She's not having to be quite creative.

Leopards are ambush predators.

Their greatest skill is stealth.

She's using this bull elephant

to disguise a sound and her movement.

Just shows you how forward-thinking

and decisive they are.

Quite exceptional kit.

It's more than 100 degrees

in the scorching midday sun.

There's no cover.

It's just stinking hot.

Just really shows how desperate she is.

I mean, this is--this is by no means,

you know, normal behavior.

She's got an incredible ability to run and stop.

Trying desperately to catch this buck.

Come on, Xudum.

Just frozen.

Leg motion, one foot off the ground.

She's got to do it.

This is make-or-break for her at this point.

Please, please, my girl.

Have you got it?

Oh, my God.

It was all up to you, and you were unlucky.

Shame. Shame, shame, shame.

At Matho's den,

Rea is following the new family.

It's not such a easy job for a lioness,

raising some cubs.

With no creche to help her,

she must do everything for her cubs alone.

She's got to keep coming back to the cubs,

letting them suckle for milk.

And at the same time, your usual job

of hunting continues.

Without other lionesses to babysit,

Matho leaves the cubs unattended to find food.

It's one of the most critical periods

in cubs' life now.

Matho has not introduced them to the pride, so she doesn't

have that extra protection from the other pride members.

And when she's not present, they have to fend

for themselves.

Matho has kept her cubs well-hidden until now.

But the other pride mothers and their cubs

have just found her den.

We've got Nosi, Magogo, and Mmakgosi incoming,

along with Big Boy Mathata

and the rest of the Cubs here.

At 8 months old, Mathata is

much bigger than Matho's cubs.

It's not ideal for Matho's cubs, actually.

They're not even half the size of Mathata.

You can just see how interested all the cubs are right now.

It's potentially their first time that they've ever seen

their new cousins here.

They keep tapping them on their heads, on the body,

looking for a reaction.

They don't realize how small and tender these new cubs are.

Mathata doesn't know his own strength.

Man. I hope it gets away.

This is potentially dangerous.

Mathata and the older cubs, they're playing too rough.

One of Matho's cubs is going to get hurt...or worse, killed.

Mathata doesn't even realize what he's doing.

Mmakgosi, Magogo, Nosi, they're doing nothing.

Not sure if they fully realize what's happening, how violent

this play has turned into.

Hope the cub manages to get away.

He's crawling back up.

Oh...they're not strong enough.

They can't get away fast enough.

Matho is returning to the den.

Mum to the rescue here.

The other pride mothers decide to leave.

Matho's cubs seem to be all right.

I mean, at the end of all of that trauma

uh, at least Matho's cubs get to live another day.

Matho's cubs are still too small to be kept

in this creche.

She must continue to raise them single-handed...for now.

So, it just shows how hard it is for Matho or any

other lioness, if you have to raise your cubs alone.

Xudum the leopard is hunting again.

Yeah. She's starting to move quite quickly.

I'm just gonna go around so we don't lose her.

Cool. Copy. I'm on my way.

It's becoming very, very critical that she makes

a kill and actually gets a feed.

Right. Xudum's going up.

It's a very good hunting opportunity

for Xudum right now.

We've got the impala walking through these thick bushes.

I see one female who's close there now.

A jump is always dangerous,

but now that she's pregnant, it's even riskier.

She could get hurt, but she can't afford

to go hungry any longer.

OK. Xudum's moving now into position.

She jumped!

She's got one! She's got an impala.

Xudum has made the kill.

This is gonna be so good for her.

She hasn't had a proper meal in so long.

This means she can den, she can relax for a bit,

and she doesn't have to stress.

Oh, yes, girl.

But Xudum's hunt hasn't gone unnoticed.

And less than 100 yards away,

Gordon is with the hungry lion mothers.

Lions are coming. Lions are coming.

What the heck?

Xudum has just caught an impala under the tree

and the lions have heard it and they are bombing their way.

This is--this is gonna be very interesting.

This is an amazing win for these mums--

Nosi, Mmakgosi, Magogo--

but it is quite unfortunate for poor Xudum.

You can just see the pain on her face.

This was such a big kill for her.

Oh! My heart is gone.

It's bittersweet. It's a hard moment to take.

I really feel for our newest mum-to-be Xudum.

This is just gonna make her life

so much more difficult.

This is really, really gut-wrenching.

With so many lions in the area...

Anna and Greg are devising a new strategy for finding

the Okavango's most elusive big cat.

We are heading out on a cheetah search further west

than we've ever been before.

We are right on the western edge of the Delta.

Just beyond that treeline, there's nothing but sand--

hundreds of miles.

It's exactly the kind of area the cheetahs love to hunt.

Yeah, it certainly does scream "cheetah," this area.

This place is beautiful.

It's completely different.

It's so green, and there is so much cheetah food about.

We've got zebras, tsessebes, wildebeests, lechwes, baboons.

It's just chockablock packed.

But after 4 hours of searching...

Whoa. Ah!

all the team finds is more lions.

4 lions that I can see so far.

The Okavango Delta is home to nearly 700 lions.

The team has run into an entirely new pride.

We know that cheetah do not

hang around lions, so this is not good news.

We're gonna have to move basically as far away from

these lions as we can and, uh, yeah,

start our search again.

Matho's cubs are growing in confidence

and becoming more active.

One is already exploring.

It's now harder to leave them alone,

as they could wander off.

It might seem like a great thing

to have so many cubs, but it creates a lot of pressure.

Matho is a strong and experienced female,

but I think she's struggling to keep up with the demand

of supplying milk and finding a meal for herself.

It must be hard to be a solo mom,

having to hunt and provide all by herself.

Matthew must find food.

So this time, she's taking the cubs with her.

I haven't seen them moving this way.

It's gonna be a big mission for her.

Anything at all could predate on tiny little lions.

But Matho seems really tired.

She's hungry, but she's doing her best for her cubs.

It's becoming more vital than ever

that she finds other lionesses to help her.

After covering more than 60 miles...

Wow...

Anna's new approach looks to have finally paid off.

I can see some ears,

and I don't want to speak too soon,

but I think it's a cheetah.

Yes, it is. It's a cheetah.

Oh! There's a second one. What?

There's a second cheetah.

I can see a third. 3!

I think there are actually 4.

This is so confusing.

The only thing I can think is that this is possibly Lesego.

I remember Brad mentioning this female that's got 3 cubs.

But what's throwing me off is that they're so big.

They must be...18 months old.

And that is around the time when they start

to disperse and leave.

It's absolutely incredible that Lesego has managed to

bring up 3 cubs to adulthood,

when you consider that only 1 in 10 survive.

And that's mainly because the mom, being the single parent

that she is, has to go out and hunt for them.

And that means leaving the cubs behind at a den, opening

them up to the risk of being killed by other predators.

Just exceptional work from her. I can't believe it.

Really can't believe it.

They're moving.

And now I can see quite clearly that there are two boys here,

and I think-- yeah, the other one's a girl.

Oh! Seeing them move together, they're like a solid unit.

They're almost moving as one.

You know, I just really can't get over

how incredibly adaptable cheetah are.

We've had a huge fire sweep through Xudum Island

and take out almost half the vegetation.

And then we had that incredible flood that's come in

and it's created mad swamplands.

Just seeing this family in front of me demonstrates how

no matter what the Delta throws at these cheetahs,

they will always find a way.

She's down in the confluence.

OK. That's what .

After losing her kill to the lions...

This is a better place for her,

be kind of out of the line... central area.

Xudum is leading Brad to an area he suspects

is her den.

She's very skinny.

So there's a chance that she's, uh,

she's already had her cubs.

That is a cub.

That's confirmation.

OK, my boy.

Now we have cubs making noises,

so there's confirmation they are in here.

Oh, I don't even have words for that.

That's--oh, she needs to get some food now.

Following her for almost 5 years now,

and this is the second litter.

We saw her lose the first.

And this is an opportunity for her to become

a successful mother.

I mean, that's all that these cats

ever want to be.

Hoping to glimpse inside the den,

Brad is deploying the thermal camera.

It's a really big fig tree that's hollow.

Hold on. She's going right inside.

Ooh, there's a cub, there's a cub.

Two cubs.

We got two little cubs.

Oh, my God. This is unbelievable.

It is so beautiful. I'm so relieved.

Dude, you have no idea.

This, to me, is completely new.

This is-- This is insane.

Leopards keep their cubs concealed at birth.

These cubs are 4 days old... not even.

They've rarely ever been filmed this young.

These are incredibly private, unique little moments.

I've spent most of my adult life with leopards, and I've

never seen this kind of activity in the den before.

It's just-- it's extraordinary to see.

Yeah. I've been waiting almost 2 years for this

since she lost her last one.

Xudum, you are a legend, my girl.

You've done so well.

The cubs' eyes are still closed, but sensing their

mother, they call out for milk.

As soon as a cub starts making too much noise,

she's got to pick them up and reposition them.

She's got to keep them quiet.

Xudum must keep her cubs hidden

from any predators nearby.

She really just doesn't want them to be making a noise

and drawing any attention to the den or to the young cubs.

It's hard work being a leopard mum.

I mean, a whole new layer of responsibility.

She will be having to hunt and get enough nourishment so that

she can produce the milk that these two little guys need.

Starting her night shift,

Anna is following the lions.

Oh! They're just there!

Matho is still searching for a creche...

and is moving her cubs under the cover of darkness.

Ooh.

Can I hear something approaching from behind?

We've got company.

There's a lot of ellies moving in.

Elephants and lion don't get on.

They're very close.

These cubs are gonna have to tread very carefully.

There might be a bit of rough and tumble.

They're actually all running.

In the chaos...

one cub is left behind.

Oh, little one!

We just watched my Matho and two of her cubs move off,

and she's left behind her little one.

And it's currently just unsure what to do with itself.

I think he's just quite sad and scared.

It's peak time for hunting.

So I am getting really concerned for this little one.

I'm hoping that mum realizes her mistake soon and comes back,

because it's not a safe place for it to be.

Jackal.

!

Could be potentially a very horrible situation.

The cub's over there.

I would be scared of a jackal, if I was him.

He's doing a good job of being quiet.

The cub has been taking itself further into a bush.

It's doing the right thing.

It just needs to hunker down and stay safe.

Lions have advanced spatial memory and can use it to

retrace their steps.

This poor little thing. Really hoping Matho comes back

for it soon.

But the longer the cub is alone,

the less likely it is to survive.

It's been a long night.

But the sun was finally risen.

We'll see whether Mama makes an appearance in the sunlight.

Relieving Anna, Gordon is taking over

to keep an eye on the cub.

We don't know where Matho is at the moment.

There was quite a lot of movement last night

and not a lot of prey in this area,

so that the big danger is that Matho

shifts her focus towards finding food, which will push

this little cub further in her, sort of in her memory.

I've never seen this before.

You know, lions will leave their cubs in random

locations, but they do that intentionally so they can

go off and hunt.

This is a mistake...

just to leave one cub in one place and move on

with the rest of them.

The cub is avoiding detection by staying silent.

But the danger is that when it gets hungry,

it might start calling.

And if it does that, it could attract predators in.

It is completely, completely defenseless.

The only hope is that Matho

realizes that she's missing one cub

and she remembers pretty much everywhere that she went

last night.

You just go up there and you find somewhere that you can

tuck yourself away.

It's possibly the best chance you've got.

The cub has now been alone for 14 hours.

As night approaches, there's still no sign of Matho.

Where is he going?

You don't want to be wandering away from here.

OK.

If it goes into the tall grass, we're never gonna know

what happened to it.

Can you see that cub? I can't see it anymore.

Come on. Where are you?

The cub has disappeared into thick cover.

Dunno. I think just the only thing we can do

is get the thermal imaging camera up and see if we can get

a heat source and look into the deeper bush.

With this camera, anything hot is gonna show up.

So, I'm hoping that we can just peer into these trees,

see through them, and pick up the movement.

This club has made the second mistake.

The first was to not follow its mum in the first place,

and the second is to actually just keep moving.

It should have been staying put.

It's like with your own kids.

If you get lost, just stay where you are

and we'll come and find you.

Oh, where did you go?

At the leopard's den,

Xudum is still going hungry.

Xudum hasn't had a meal since she gave birth.

She has to leave her cubs alone in the den

to go out and hunt.

Leaving her newborn cubs unprotected is risky...

but if she doesn't eat soon, she won't be able to produce

enough milk to keep them alive.

I haven't seen her made a proper kill

in a long time.

The last kill that I saw her make was stolen by lions.

It'd be nice to see her get a kill and really know that she

is actually surviving and providing for her family.

Xudum's now stalking into a herd of impala.

She'll need to get within 10 meters of them,

even less.

I mean, it's pitch black right now,

but there's no wind, so any movement she makes,

they might hear her, um...

This is a very precarious situation for her.

Oh...my God.

She zipped completely around them.

This cat's a genius!

She's gone completely around the entire herd.

She's got them walking straight towards her currently.

So, this impala's standing here just by the edge of the tree.

I think that there is our leopard.

I think she's within 10 meters of these guys now.

She's got a good chance here, yeah?

All it takes is for one of these impala

to suddenly decide that they want to go that way,

and then all hell is gonna break loose.

Oh, God. Here we go.

The Impala starts snorting.

Oh, ! I think she's been bust.

It's an alarm call to alert the rest of the herd.

The leopard's just been spotted.

She's just getting the hell out of there now.

Yeah, it's all over.

She got really, really close, though, eh?

Unsuccessful, but it was a pretty good effort for her,

I have to admit.

She's just having such a run of bad luck at the moment.

For Xudum and her cubs,

the situation is now becoming critical.

She's going to struggle to keep the cubs alive

if she doesn't feed herself soon.

Gordon is still looking for Matho's lost cub.

Made a big mistake.

Oh, it's there!

It is right there.

Hey, little guy!

You little blighter, you!

You giving me a heart attack.

He's right at the bottom of the car.

Just looks so lost and alone there.

This little guy has moved at quite a pace

out from the cover.

This doesn't look good.

The only hope that this cub has is if Matho comes back.

But on his own--yeah.

It doesn't stand a chance of surviving.

The cub begins crying out.

That might work.

It might--may have the opposite effect.

Nighttime is a dangerous place for a lion cub this small--

hyenas, leopards, other lions.

Oh, I'm hoping he's not making another mistake.

Oh, there they come.

Oh, I do not believe it.

That is a miracle.

It's Matho and the other two cubs.

What are the chances of that?

Matho has retraced her steps back to her lost cub.

That is incredible!

I didn't have any hopes for this--this cub.

Almost 24 hours alone,

and this cub has been reunited with its siblings and its mum.

Oh, that's just the best thing ever.

This is exciting.

This is exciting.

There's even more new life within the lion pride.

I can see 4 cubs.

Oh, another one just popped up. Ha ha.

Oh!

Lioness Tsebe has 5 cubs.

Ohh! I can't get enough of these cubs, man.

And Naledi has given birth to two.

I can't believe Tsebe's has got five cubs.

Generally, litters are between 2 and 3 cubs.

This could be the creche that Matho needs.

Oh! Look at that. Look at that!

She's bringing her family to meet

the newest pride members.

This would be the first time the triplets meet

Tsebe and Naledi's cubs.

Let's see how this unfold.

Look at them. They're watching.

I think they know Auntie Matho is coming up

with the triplets.

For Matho to creche and synchronize her cubs

with Naledi and Tsebe, it's much safer because they're

slightly younger.

Your mommy wants to socialize.

They're like, "Yeah, you socialize.

We just wanna have some milk."

This is so beautiful.

One of my Matho's cubs is suckling from Naledi...

and one's suckling from Tsebe.

This is great.

Lions are the only cats that raise cubs together.

By feeding Matho's cubs,

Tsebe and Naledi are accepting her into the fold.

And this is, I believe, where the creching

between the 3 mothers who start...which is exciting!

Ha ha! Ah...

There are now 15 cubs in the family.

Soon it'll be the largest pride in the world.

Oh. It's beautiful.

I'm hopeful because Matho is gone now

Naledi and Tsebe.

Those can become a strong bond, a strong coalition.

They will hunt together. They will creche together.

They'll help each other.

They just get on so well.

That's the dynamic of creching.

This coalition of the 3 mothers seems to be working.

On another night shift...

Gordon is in Xudum the leopard's territory.

So, this is very interesting.

He's found a male leopard on a kill.

Male leopards are one of the biggest threats

to leopard cubs.

There's a huge risk if a male leopard is not the father

of those cubs.

He would try to wipe them out, try to kill them.

It's not long before his meal--

Hang on a second.

attracts the attention of a younger male:

Metsi.

Metsi doesn't have a clearly defined territory

at the moment, so he'll just be moving around,

looking for somewhere to set up home.

Metsi is a very confident leopard.

But as of yet, he's not the biggest cat in town.

This other fella...

seems a sort of leopard.

I wouldn't want to go head-to-head with him.

Most leopards here are killed by their own species.

There is a zero tolerance policy between these--

these leopard males.

They're highly territorial animals.

This unknown male definitely looks bigger in size.

If it came to blows, I really don't fancy

Metsi's chances at all.

Oh! He's running.

He's flanking him.

He's using his superior strength and size

to try and intimidate Metsi,

just shepherding him out.

The last thing that either of these cats want to do is to

have a fight, for it to be, you know, teeth and claws.

Metsi probably realizes that he's--he's outgunned.

Other guy is where?

He's stopped on the ground, looking pretty confident,

that he's actually seen Metsi off.

But Metsi seizes an opportunity.

Oh, my goodness me.

It's he's just used this little bit of wind

and the darkness to sneak round.

He's gone a big loop.

He's left the other meal out on the plains,

and he's snuck in just to--to feed on this kill.

Skillful maneuvering. Look at that.

His persistence... has paid off...

and he's getting his prize.

The other male is fast asleep out there.

If you want to keep your dinner all to yourself,

don't take a nap.

It's a win for Metsi.

But with these males now in play,

for Xudum, the game has changed.

Brad is checking in on Xudum.

Starting to get a bit concerned about this.

Since giving birth, she's been struggling

to feed herself.

I know she's been having a--a rough time,

carcasses being stolen by lions,

and it's just not great.

Oh!

Well done, Xudum.

She's definitely had a meal, which is brilliant.

Just so much to be grateful for.

She doesn't have to be so absent.

She can be around the den, keeping an eye on her cubs

and being an attentive mother.

So, relieved to see her full and happy and spending time

with her cubs.

Yeah, that's a good feeling, very good feeling.

I'm just amazed at how trusting and accepting she is of us.

Hello, you cute things.

Just seeing a bum and little feet in the air...

it's super exciting.

There are two little babies.

You could actually see both of the two cubs.

At this age, their eyes are just starting to open.

It's such a privilege. It's just so, so lucky.

There's a huge size difference between the two cubs.

My best guess would be little boy, little girl.

Little girl is moving around and she's in the front.

And the boy, I think, is at the back, much more stationary,

slightly bigger.

Females mature quicker. and her eyes are open already

and she's smaller, she's more active,

and the male is quite, uh, quite slow.

Eyes still closed, still head wobbling, less active.

So, this is the first day that we've managed to get a little

look inside the den while the sun is up, and just picking

bits and pieces of the two interacting and climbing over

each other, and start to see the personalities

and start to see character.

And it's like one big happy family.

There could be nothing better with this picture right now.

Heading back to camp, something catches Brad's eye.

We got male tracks here,

coming down the road towards the den.

This is not--not great.

Male leopards will kill cubs that are not their own

to eliminate competition.

It's not good to have tracks so close to this den.

The male leopard tracks are going back and forth,

way too close to newborn cubs.