Hunting by male lions: ecological influences and socioecological implications

In the Kruger National Park, male lions, Panthera lee, acquire most of thei r food by hunting rather than scavenging. This study, the most intensive to date of male lion ecology, showed that in savanna woodlands, with high buf falo, Syncerus caffer, densities, male lions were frequent and successful h unters. The main prey species of all male group types, but particularly non territorial males, was buffalo: By contrast, females preyed more frequently on the most abundant medium-sized ungulates, such as wildebeest, Connochae tes taurinus, and zebra, Equus burchelli. Thus intraspecific prey selection separation was based primarily on intersexual and, to a lesser extent, soc ial differences. Furthermore, both nonterritorial males and pride females l ocated their favoured prey, buffalo and medium-sized ungulates, respectivel y, more often than other prey. We investigated the influence of several eco logical variables on the socioecology of male lions, particularly as we had determined that territorial males spent little time with their pride femal es and tended to hunt by themselves in their respective male coalitions. Fu rther analysis showed that in a range of ecosystems in southern and eastern Africa the proportion of time territorial males spent with, and thus scave nged from, their pride females was strongly influenced by vegetation struct ure, and therefore probably by the assemblage of available ungulates. In op en systems, territorial males were, therefore, likely to be encountered wit h pride females, whereas in more wooded areas they were likely to be encoun tered away from their pride females. We suggest that this is because vegeta tion structure influences food/prey availability and hunting success and in fluences territory maintenance and/or cub defence. (C) 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.