Researchers say that, unlike females, male lions prefer to hunt alone

Mar 21, 2013 20:41 GMT  ·  By

The scientific journal Animal Behavior recently witnessed the publication of a new study stating that, despite previous assumptions, male lions do enjoy going hunting and are actually quite good at it.

Up until now, it was a common held belief that, unlike females, male lions simply sit around and patiently wait to be presented with their next meal.

However, it is now being said that male lions do not shy away from the idea of pulling their own weight.

The only difference is that, unlike females, males prefer to hunt alone and more often than not ambush their prey with the help of dense vegetation. Mongabay informs us that these new insights into the feeding behavior of male lions come as a result of a team of researchers' taking the time to closely monitor several such big cats living in Africa's Krueger National Park.

These felines were all fitted with GPS collars, hence the scientists' being able to keep a close eye on their movements within the established perimeter.

“Locations where male lions killed both small and large prey had shorter lines-of-sight than locations where they rested. In contrast, lines-of-sight distances at locations where female lions killed both small and large prey did not differ significantly from those at locations where they rested," the researchers write,” the researchers write in their paper.

What they mean is that, whereas female lions hunt in the open savanna and work as a group in order to take down prey, males have no need for company when out hunting and resort to hiding in bushes in order to surprise they prey.

The researchers further explain that, given the findings of this investigation, efforts must be made to make sure that these animals do not have their natural habitats further disturbed by humans.

“This study suggests that changes to vegetation structure, such as through fire management, could greatly alter the balance of predators and prey,” specialist Scott Loarie argues.