Lion Predation

[Dr Panthera]

(05-20-2016, 01:17 AM)Pckts Wrote: "I believe female lions would kill more buffalo if the herds were not as big as they are. Buffalo herds can be in the 1,000's. This is the main reason that an attempt at a buffalo normally does not end in favor of the lion."

The reason lions predate on buffalo as much as they do is because of the herd sizes, buffalo makes up a huge amount of lions prey. Yes a large herd will come to the aid, that certainly doesn't happen every time though. Also the large herd sizes means more young, old, injured and sick, which all equal more prey available. The large herds have allowed lions to be the only cat that forms prides, the flip side is Gir, where prey is more scattered which has caused the lions to live in much smaller prides.

Not only Gir..in fact lions form smaller prides or couples everywhere buffalo DO NOT OCCUR ( Kalahari, Namib, Congo, Atlas mountains, and the former Asian range of lions), in the range that millions of buffalo occupied in Africa lions evolved to form large prides ruled by subsequent large male coalitions to hold prime territories that usually have buffalo herds, an important reason since the larger prides monopolize predation on buffalo and mega fauna and lessen the opportunity of other lions to access this resource ( and to a lesser degree the other predators extant and extinct).
Peterhans and Gnoske even suggested two classification for lions in the Tsavo area : buffalo lions (who are specialist buffalo hunters who live in woodlands and riverine forests and are larger 210-240 kg) and plain lions (who live on the plains, hunt antelopes and zebra, and are smaller 180-220 kg). While I do not agree, all lions are lions it sheds the light on the importance of buffalo for the feeding ecology of lions.
As for cooperative hunting the only "proof" of coordinated hunting of any lion prey was for the springbok in Etosha NP by Flip Stander, the 50kg springbok can reach speed of over 85km/hour and to hunt in an arid area with little cover like Etosha excludes ambush opportunities so lions need team work and they copy the formation of a rugby team with smaller faster lionesses ( the wings ) chasing the springbok towards larger ambushing lionesses ( the centers ).
In other areas and with other prey it seems that each lion is attempting the hunt on its own and somehow smaller contributions tip the balance while most of the leg work is done by one individual. I think that this is still a research in progress and the final understanding og the lion hunting behavior is not yet fully understood. Reply