Killer Kings

[Morkel Erasmus]

Okay - so you've seen quite a few images from this sighting on BPN already. I was spurred by my discussion with Gabriela on Andreas' lion photo from the Kgalagadi to go and ID one of these males.
We knew one of them was "Ash", as the photographer Hannes Lochner was at the sighting with me and he knew these brothers intimately. I just never knew which one.
Gabriela's photo on Andreas' thread gave me the facial ID patterns to go and check. I will post the facial ID comparison in the replies below, as I believe they can be of educational value to others.

Leopards and cheetahs are able to be distinguished and identified based on any recognisable pattern in their rosettes/spots anywhere on their bodies. Lions lose their rosettes at a very young age, so any noticeable scar or facial whisker pattern is a good place to start. With Ash, the obvious place to start is the branding mark on his right hind quarter, but this mark is given to any young male lion who escapes into neighbouring farmland from the SA or Namibian side of the Kgalagadi (the Botswana side is vast wilderness tract and also unfenced).

Here, the two brothers take stock of their quarry (taken down by the 3 females in their pride, actually, but killed by Ash) before tucking in.
A previous frame - you can see Ash on the left, notice the branding mark (his brother doesn't have one): http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/113254-Tag-Team-Tactics

In this frame below, Ash is actually on our RHS, his brother having moved around him.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f8.0 | 1/400 SS | ISO-2000

[Morkel Erasmus]

Here are my ID marks on Ash's face - taken from a different photos which was captured the previous afternoon. I enhanced the features with LCE locally to lift them out to you.

GREEN: A singular dark spot below his nose.
RED: A criss-cross of scars above his nose, on his right side.
BLACK: A large indentation/bite scar on the left of his nasal bridge.

Now compare to this thread: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/124486-A-very-nice-Kalahari-Lion-on-the-move
You can see the same singular spot on Andreas' image, and the same nasal scars on Gabriela's image (along with the singular spot).
His mane looks fuller now (as per Andreas' image) and his body shape looks a bit less healthy.

[Mark Needham]

That was such an awesome sighting and you captured the event perfectly, Morkel. Love your images from this sequence every time I see them!

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - thanks for the demonstration with regards to markings and identification. Another nice capture of the sighting. It looks a little thin to me but it may just be the light or dust.

TFS,
Rachel

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Awesome sighting and scene Morkel, neatly composed, with nice details. Thanks for demonstrating how to ID Lions. Looks like an effective way.

[Neil Burton]

Exellent Morkel, as always. Thanks for the heads up on markings.

[Douglas Bolt]

Excellent capture of a dramatic scene.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Morkel at first thanks for the detailed info on the markings .
Regarding the image , well very nice all around . Like the colors , comp and overall tone /contrast . Very good detail .
I would try to push the light mid tones a bit more , to get some more tone into them .I tried by using a curves layer with ML mask by Tony and push the 50 point ( i use pigment ink in curves ) to 60 and set opacity to 66 % . Was giving a bit depth if you wish.

Must have been a pleasure and great experience to see all of that .

TFS Andreas

[BenBotha]

I like the crop, interaction but I also agree with Rachel's comment.
Ben

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Morkel!

I really enjoyed this thread, and especially since it features one of my favourite Kalahari boys:) I will try to look at my close-ups of Ash to see the ID marks, thank you. What a great moment you have captured here, I have never seen the two brothers together and took great pleasure in viewing this - much appreciated, Morkel, and hope you post some more from time to time:)

Kind regards,