Lion Predation

[BlakeW39]

I thought I'd say my piece on the conversation here adressed by @ragelion :)

So, and correct me if I'm wrong, you point is that lions are very strong animals and use this great physical strength to pull down very large megafauna (>1000kg) and then kill them.

Lions are enormously powerful animals, and possess great physical strength. It is very apparent that their bodies are designed to maximize physical strength per their size; they have exceptionally low body fat and very light skeletons, both of which allow for them minimize their weight while still maintaining strength they need to hunt. Their frames, because of this, are dominated by dense skeletal muscle -- moreso than almost any other extant mammals. Additionally, high quantities of forcefully-contracting fast-twitch muscle fibers give them the 'explosive power' big cats are known for.

Lions, and big cats in general, evolved their great physical strengty in order to overpower large prey. They use this strength, then, to take down the large prey within their preferred prey weight range, i.e. ~190-550kg. Yet, lions occasionally take prey above this preferable weight range -- sometimes they kill prey much larger, in fact. This is where a lion's strength meets its limits. Because this prey is so much stronger than their usual targets, and so much stronger than a lion, they must rely on the other elements of their arsenal more heavily and capitalize on weaknesses this large prey might have.

Strength isn't all that a lion specializes in; the same light skeleton that minimizes weight also, and perhaps more importantly, is flexible and allows for great maneuverability and agility for hunting. They have retractable claws that can hook into or tear thick hides of large prey, and they have powerful jaws to deliver a killing bite.

Because can't simply overpower a hippo, for example, they must use their other assets -- their agility to outmaneuver and overwhelm the much larger-framed animal, can use their claws to grip onto the back, finally using their jaws to crush the spinal cord. There is a reason a lion has these numerous other abilities; they are just as important as their strength and primary in attacking a large animal that they can't outmuscle. Reply