How often do Lions eat? How often do Lions catch their prey?
How often do lions eat?
Lions can eat almost every day. But, in times of scarcity of food when in the wild, lions eat after every 3 to 4 days.
When in times of extreme scarcity of food it has been seen that, they can go without food for more than 7 to 8 days and will become a bit weak of course.
They are all carnivore animals and so they will only eat meat by hunting their prey. In the animal kingdom, a carnivore is an animal that gets food from killing and eating other animals.
Lions normally hunt and eat their food at night. But, they are also seen to hunt and eat during the day time as well.
In the wild, they mostly like to eat buffaloes, zebras, young elephants, wild hogs, wild dogs, etc.
Some are also seen to feed on small animals like mice, birds, lizards, etc. but that’s too rare as these small animals don’t fulfill the nutritional requirement of the lion.
But, it is also to be noted that they are opportunistic animals and so, mostly during the scarcity of food they attempt to catch any animal available at that moment of time.
They do daily try to hunt their prey as they live in pride (group of lioness with their lions). For their daily requirement, they not only feed on the muscles of the prey but also some parts of the bones and all of the internal organs.
And according to their nutritional plan, lions actually need an average intake of about 8 to 10 kg of meal per day at the minimum. So, hunting daily is a need for them when there is no scarcity of food.
How often do lions catch their prey?
Lions are seen to hunt their prey too often i.e. mostly after every 3 to 4 days when in the wild.
It has been seen that in every pride only the lionesses hunt mostly, and the alpha male lion gets to eat first before the lionesses.
While at some cases, I have also seen that lions help the lionesses to hunt the bigger prey like wild buffaloes, giraffe, etc.
But, males hunt less than 10% of the time, and lionesses do most of the hunting.
You will mostly find them hunting at night and resting during the day. In some cases, some lion prides are also seen hunting at dawn and dusk and on cooler days.
They try to avoid hunting during sunny days. And so, during the day they rest under a tree, in the bush, or often near water holes.
If the pride is large, maybe consisting of more than 3 to 4 lions then they will often hunt every day to fulfill their daily nutritional requirements.
And, how often they do catch their prey also depends on the size of the prey.
Just for instance, if there are at least 5 to 6 lions or more in pride, then if the size of the prey is small like a Zebra, or young Elephant, then lions must hunt after every two days.
On the other hand, if the size of their prey is large like a buffalo, an adult zebra, or a giraffe, and the lion pride has only 2 to 3 members, then they need to hunt after every 7 to 8 days for sure.
However, it has also been seen that they can hunt in abundance when they are a bit hungry, and when there is no scarcity of food.
Then, during such time of abundance, they do become opportunistic predators and can hunt almost daily no matter what the size of the prey and the size of the pride is.
How much do lions eat?
In general, a male lion needs to eat at least 40 to 43 kg per day, and a female lion needs at least 22 to 25 kg per day when in the wild. But, on average a single lion at least needs to eat minimum of 8 to 10 kg per day.
Lions generally prefer eating large-sized prey as they are often seen in large groups of 5 or more members in a pride.
They need a good amount of nutrients for their daily feeding. It has been estimated that they need at least 40% proteins, 38% fats, 1.1% fibre, 42% water, along with other nutrients in small amounts just in order to survive and stay healthy.
So, it has been seen that lions can also nutritional deficiencies if they only feed on the muscles of their prey. So, in order to fulfill their nutritional requirement, they almost feed on all of the internal organs including the intestines and a majority of the small bones to get calcium.
Those internal organs and bones are essential to provide the vitamins, calcium, iron, zinc, and other minerals required for good health of the lion.
Female lions are seen to capture most of the mid-sized prey, and the males are typically seen helping the lionesses to catch the large-sized prey.
It has been seen that they can hunt two mid-sized prey one after the other, for their pride if they get the chance.
Their frequency of hunting and eating the whole prey depends directly on the size of their prey and the size of the pride.
Lions cubs younger than 4 weeks, in general, are seen to feed at most part of the day or whenever they can on their mother’s milk.
Lions cubs older than 4 to 5 weeks start to feed on the meat of the prey their mother has hunted for the pride, although they will also continue feeding on the mother’s milk for about 4 to 6 months.
During that age, that is when the lion cubs are at least 6 weeks old, they need to feed about 20% of their body weight at least in 5 meals, after every 24 hours.
Food and energy requirements are 40% higher when the lioness is pregnant. And, it has been also seen that when there’s a scarcity of food, a lioness will try to avoid giving birth for a while.
Do lions eat lions?
Yes, lions are rarely seen to eat their cubs sometimes. But, they don’t feed on adult lions after killing them or after they die.
The male lions are sometimes seen to will kill cubs after defeating the alpha male, usually when they take over new territory from another pride to stake their claim on the females.
Lions are only seen to kill their cubs when there’s an adverse condition of food scarcity. However, such a type of an act of cannibalism (act of consuming the cubs) are very rare. And so, they are seen only to kill the cubs and throw them away out of the pride.
Alison Dunn, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Leeds in the U.K, says that she has seen a few of the wild African male lions winning and taking over various prides from the older males, and then killing and cannibalizing some of the cubs of those prides.
In some scenarios, it has also been seen that if the females after the death of the alpha male, refuse to mate with the new dominating male lion then they can get very aggressive with the females and can often kill those who refuse to mate.
But, such and act of killing and feeding on the lionesses by the male lions has not been reported or seen till date.
However, it has also been seen that groups of lionesses can even attack the lions just in order to defend their cubs, territory, and also the wounded alpha male lion. But, they have been never ever seen to feed on the lion after killing him.
Even, the fight between lions can also lead to the death of anyone of them. In such cases, the winning male will simply leave the dead body of the defeated male and will simply walk away. No such instances of feeding the dead body have also been reported.
How often do lions eat in captivity? What do they eat in captivity?
Lions can eat around 4 to 10 kg of meat per day in captivity. At most of the zoos, lions are mostly provided with beef meat.
When in captivity, lions are also provided with a variety of different types of meats, like those of sheep, lamb, goat, rabbit, chicken, and even horse meat.
There are often provided with their meals for at least 5 times a day, thus providing them with a well-balanced diet.
In the wild, lions eat almost everything from the meat and intestine to the bones of the prey. So, they get all the nutrients like calcium, protein, fats, and all other minerals they do require on a daily basis.
In captivity, they are provided with meat added with extra commercial or medicinal calcium, vitamins, fibres, and a lot of other minerals to their daily meal.
As for instance, the beef meat that is fed to the lions, for example needs calcium added to it. Because in the wild, lions eat the bones of their prey, which contain a lot of calcium.
Bones are also a common element on the typical menus of captive lions. They are provided with bones as meals on a weekly basis.
Lions are provided with a single big and fresh bones every week. The bones mostly includes those of the beef leg bones.
Also, there are a lot of commercial foods available in the market that taste like meat and with added nutrients to it. These are often feeded to the lions in the zoos to fulfill their daily dietary requirements like calcium, fibres, and some amino acids as well.
According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, captive male lions need 3.5 kg of food per day on average, while females need at least 3 kg per day on average.
In captivity, lions are alright to feed and stay on such a low food requirement as they don’t need to hunt daily and waste their energy. And so, they are often seen to spend their days sleeping, resting, and digesting more often.
Why do male lions eat first?
The male lions eat first in the pride, and if there are more than one male lions in the pride then the alpha lion gets to eat first.
Male lion eats first because it’s a kind of a behaviour of the pride that allows the alpha male to eat first as he is the most dominating and powerful one in the pride who takes care of the territory and offer protection for the pride.
He is the one who fights with other males who tries to take over the pride. He is also the one who has the first right to mate with all of the females in the pride.
Female lions do most of the hunting, although when it’s tough to kill a large prey then the male can help them.
But in general, the females hunt and kill the prey and offer it to the alpha male first. Then after the male has finished eating, the females get their chance over the leftover of the prey.
The female and the cubs see the alpha male at a very high esteem as he the king and the leader of the pride.
So, in simple words, the males play an important role. While they do eat more than the lionesses and bring in far less food as they hunt less than 10% of the time, but they do take care, patrol, mark, and guard the pride’s territory.
And so, male lions most probably the alpha male lion, will eat first at a kill, while the females and their cubs wait for their turn.