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A listener note, this episode contains adult content and is not suitable for everyone.

Please be advised. This is the second part of a two-part episode. If you have not

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The Walt Disney film The Lion King fascinated scores of young and old alike with the character of Simba who is the focus of the movie.

spoiler alert, Simba's father dies trying to save his son, and Simba flees into the wilderness in grief.

But in reality, the relationship between Cubs and their parents

is, well, complicated. Simba's father would have most likely considered him a threat and banished

him from the pride as he got older.

Linus' will take care of their cubs until they are two or three years old,

and then their cubs must fend for themselves.

I've been thinking a lot about lions and their cubs. I recently returned from an

amazing animal preserve in South Africa and watching the big cats was one of my

favorite memories of the trip. After the age of two or three,

the cub does not really need their mother. Well, at least not in the complicated way that humans can interact with their parents.

The separation that happens when the lions are two and three is akin to some human children

turning 18 and leaving their home.

They are now considered adults and are hopefully prepared for the real world.

Santake for the real world.

Santay Kimes, though wild and dangerous, certainly did not act like a lioness when it came to her son Kenny. She kept him close and to herself. She never

encouraged him to become independent or to grow into an adult who could emotionally survive in the outside world without her help.

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