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Behavior Guide: communal cub rearing A takeover by new males simultaneously resets the reproductive clocks of all females in a pride and the result is that females often give birth simultaneously. Mothers of similar-aged cubs pool their young into a "crèche" and raise them together. Maternal grouping allows females to work together to protect their cubs against strange males, but it also involves cooperating in other ways. For example, mothers in a group often nurse each other's offspring. This behavior is actually less selfless than it appears; lions are most likely to nurse the offspring of their closest relatives, and they make an effort to deter cubs of more distant relatives as well as cubs that are older than their own.
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