Since ancient times, a person treated lions with special respect and awe, attributed royal qualities to them, considered them exemplary family men and invincible warriors. And not in vain, since the lion is one of the best hunters among the representatives of the animal world, he can cope even with those who are much larger than him.
Lions differ from other representatives of the feline class, first of all, by their extraordinary craving for constant communication with their own kind. It is this trait of their character that has become the reason that they live in groups, families, the so-called prides. Such groups can include from 30 to 40 individuals of lions, lionesses and their cubs. A very warm relationship reigns within the pride. During the rest of the family, the animals look after each other, lick their fur, and the cubs can suck both their mother and any other female from the pride that has milk. It is noteworthy that the basis of the family, its backbone, are females, and it is on their shoulders that care for the offspring, food extraction and protection of the pride from enemies lies. The group includes only a few male lions, usually no more than three.
How to hunt pride lions
Pride lions hunt within their territory. These animals are characterized by a unique feature of respect for the borders of someone else's territory, for someone else's family. Moreover, lions never kill for fun, they hunt only when they need food, and they give its remains to less fortunate jackals, hyenas.
When a lion is hungry, he perceives any moving object as food, although these predators give special preference to ungulates - antelopes, goats, sheep, zebras or cattle. However, a large family group of lions can even eat an elephant if it is alone and unable to offer decent resistance.
The dominant role in hunting is taken by lionesses. If there is a hunt for small animals, then one individual fights off the herd and several lionesses attack it at the same time. Lions bite the victim, as a rule, in the neck, they act with lightning speed and the victim sometimes does not even realize that he is dying. Large animals, for example, lonely elephants, are tracked down by lionesses and, silently sneaking up, they are killed with one or two bites, again, in the neck. But an attempt to kill such a large animal often ends in the death of lionesses.
How much does the lion family eat at one time
How voracious are the lions and whether a pride of lions can eat an elephant - these questions are probably of interest to many lovers of these beautiful animals.
Lions are very voracious, hunger literally deprives them of their mind and makes them rush to prey of any size, just to get an opportunity to get enough. For a family of 30 lions, an elephant may not be enough for one meal if it is small. At one time, an adult lion or lioness can eat up to 20 kg of meat, that is, the whole family will need about 600 kg of this product.
