Behavior Guide: hunting

Lions are built for quick rushes of speed rather than endurance. When hunting, they stalk their prey, moving slowly and carefully into striking distance before making their move. The hunt itself is likely to be a short charge as opposed to a long chase, and will more often fail than succeed. If the prey is brought down, lions bite it at the muzzle or mouth and strangle it before beginning to feed.

non-cooperative hunting
Lions are famous for hunting cooperatively, but things are a little more complicated than that. Cooperation is most common when lions tackle large prey such as buffalo or giraffe. Lions will occasionally cooperate when hunting small or average sized prey, but in these cases it's far more common to find one female hunting alone while her companions observe from safe distance. If the prey is captured they will then join their companion at the kill.

males digging Male lions are famous for relying on females to do all of the hunting, but this is not strictly the case. Males spend a good deal of time as nomads or away from pride females, and during these periods they must fend for themselves. When alone, males will often hunt warthog, typically by chasing one into a hole and then digging it out. Males are also skilled hunters of larger prey where size and bulk are more important than speed. They are especially adept at catching buffalo which are an important prey species throughout the lion's range.

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