by DGFone » December 14th, 2015, 10:24 am
It is true that in RL, male lions are exiled out of the pride. However, I am not so sure if Nuka was actually old enough yet to be of an exile age. The little I know from watching documentaries and the occasional wiki walk, judging from Nuka's lack of a proper mane (I'm judging more by hair length rather than by how neat it is), I think Nuka would still be too young. But then again, he is older than Kovu, and Kovu by the time he gets sent into the Pride Lands to take over certainly does look old enough to have been exiled as well normally, so Nuka would certainly be above that age as well...
Another reason could be, since the TLK lions behave somewhat differently than real lions, is that Zira saw some use for him in terms of muscle or some other benefit, and chose to keep him for that reason.
Yet a third theory, going by how she acted when Nuka died, is that despite her treatment of him, she still cared for him and simply didn't want to get rid of a family member.