Wild Ungulate Prey Size and Feeding Group Demographic Structure Affect Interactions and Per Capita Food Intake of African Pride Lions in East African Maasai Steppe

TL;DR

This study shows how the size of prey and the age/sex makeup of lion groups affect how much food each lion gets in East Africa's Maasai Steppe.

Contribution

The study reveals new insights into how demographic structure and prey size influence per capita food intake in African lion prides.

Findings

Cub per capita food intake decreases with more cubs and subadults.

Subadults increase food intake when feeding with cubs and adult females.

Adult male intake is reduced only by increased numbers of adult females.

Abstract

The African lion (
Panthera leo
Linnaeus, 1758) has evolved complex associations in which individual survival is an interplay of cooperation among pride members. Although feeding behaviors of African lions are widely known, our understanding of how age and sex classes affect per capita intake of other individual members in a pride remains unclear. This study used long‐term population monitoring data collected from 2004 to 2023 to assess how prey size and feeding group composition affect different age/sex class interactions and per capita food intake of African lion cubs, subadults, adult males, and adult females. The results indicate that African lion feeding group composition and interaction patterns at carcasses were affected by prey size. Cub per capita food intake was reduced by increased numbers of cubs and subadults. For subadults, the per capita intake was reduced as the number of cubs, subadults, and adult females increased. However, subadults increased their per capita intake rates when feeding together with both cubs and adult females. Adult females also showed competitive interactions when feeding at carcasses with cubs, subadults, and fellow adult females. Nevertheless, the adult female per capita intake was increased when more females fed with cubs or subadults and when feeding in combination with cubs and adult males. For adult male lions, only increased numbers of adult females led to a reduced per capita intake at carcasses, reflecting competition. These varied effects on per capita food intake suggest how age and sex‐based composition of feeding groups play a role in the foraging success of African lions and how food availability may influence the demographic composition of prides.

This study used long‐term lion population monitoring data in the Tarangire–Manyara ecosystem to understand how feeding group demographic structure affects per capita food intake for cubs, subadults, adult females, and adult males. Our results revealed that the composition of feeding groups in carcasses variably affects per capita food intake for each demographic group, with both competition as well as facilitation interactions in certain age/sex class individuals. These findings emphasize the necessity of maintaining prey populations as a means of ensuring conservation of threatened African lions.

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