All About Lions

*Lions are the dominant members of the food chain, but it remains a mystery why they kill all other members of the carnivore family as well as several less-competitive species such as baboons, monitie lizards and crocodiles. The logical answer is that this removes potential competitors, but its hard to imagine how a mongoose could compete with a lion or provide a fit meal. Leopards differ from lions in this regard, eating whatever they kill.

*The boisterous rough and tumble of lion cubs not only teaches hunting behaviour, but also develops social skills. lions are uniquely social among all cats, living in prides without dominance hierarchies.

*Cubs and lionesses feed primarily on Zebra, wildebeest and buffalo.

*Male lions eat more buffalo than females do. Their size accounts for their increased hunting success.

*Thanks to their strategy of hunting in a group, lions can kill prey much larger than themselves. Species such as wildebeest are vulnerable to attack by lionsand thus highly preferred. Lionesses co-ordinate group hunts of prey that can run fast and are medium to large in size. Once the prey is detected, it is encircled. Each lioness waits to either rush at or chase down the quarry. Cubs and subadults ait eagerly. When they hear the knock-down they rush to assist and join the feast.

*As they spend most of their time patrolling their territories, typically as a coalition of to, males have had to learn other hunting skills. Male lions in Kruger are successful hunters in their own right, largely killing buffalo, impala and warthog, but not with the same co-ordinated skill as the lionesses.

*Males are not above scavenging from the pride kills of wildebeest, zebra, kudu and waterbuck. When these kills are large adults (above 150kg) males feed with the pride, sometimes pushing the lionesses off the kill but tolerating the cubs.

*When the kill is smaller, one male will pick it up and steal it for himself.

*Lions tend to hunt adult giraffe in terrain where they might slip and fall when chased. This includes mud near the water's edge, rocky areas or the steep banks of rivers.