We receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.* What else do lion eat?Īs opportunistic hunters, lions will eat almost anything that moves but they certainly prefer some species more than others. * This article may contain affiliate links. By playing with their family, lion cubs start learning hunting skills at a very young age.
Nearly a quarter of the kills were porcupines! Other common small animals consumed were bat-eared foxes, aardvark, springhares, and steenbok. warthogs) in the late dry season.Īnother study found that lions in the Kalahari (an arid region in Southern Africa) depend more heavily upon small animals for food than in other parts of Africa. For example, one study in Zimbabwe showed that female lions are more likely to hunt browsers (animals that eat bark, leaves, and twigs) such as giraffes and kudu in the early dry season, and then grazers (animals that eat grass) like zebras and suids (pig family: i.e. The species targeted will vary depending on the season and whether the hunting was performed by a male or female lion. If you don’t like the sight of blood, please don’t watch it! WARNING: This video is a bit graphic, showing a lion killing and eating a gemsbok. We saw a lone male hunt a large gemsbok in the middle of the day in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa. However, males are quite capable of hunting on their own. This female lions is eating a Gemsbok calf that it stole from a leopard in the Kalahari.įemale lions are smaller than males, yet they do most of the hunting in a pride. A study in the Serengeti showed that one quarter of all lion kills were made upon calves or juveniles. Also, lions will frequently hunt the juveniles of larger species. Though lions are quite capable of hunting large animals by themselves, hunting in groups can certainly improve their chances. Another 20% are made by a pair of lions, leaving only 32% of kills made by three or more lions. Lions have a reputation for being group hunters that work together to take down large animals, but a study showed that about half of all lion kills are made by a single lion (48%). You may also notice that some of these animals on the lions diet are quite a lot bigger than a lion including buffalo and giraffes.
And who knows, maybe they just taste better to a lion? This is because warthogs and lions tend to live in the same habitat so they are encountered frequently, and warthogs are relatively slower and easier to catch than similarly-sized small antelopes. If you look at this list you may notice one prey item that is quite a bit smaller than a lion: the warthog. Lions Favorite Prey (lion diet)Ĭape Buffalo Gemsbok Blue Wildebeest Zebra (with lion wound) Giraffe Warthog
The preferred prey range is from 190 to 550 kg (420 pounds to 1210 pounds) with the favorite prey size being around 350 kg (770 pounds)! This is substantially heavier than the average lion (about 280 pounds for females and 400 pounds for males.) In fact lions are on of the biggest cats in the world! What do lions eat? Anything from mice to elephants and everything in between is what’s on the lions diet! What Does a Lion Eat in the Wild?Īfrican lions mainly eat medium-to-large mammals that are about their own size or larger.
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