What Type of Behavior Do Lions Display?
The behavior that lions display differs depending on the specific situation, such as mating behavior, hunting behavior and social behavior. For instance, lions display social, familial behavior.
Lions are sociable creatures and live together in prides. Prides consist of two groups: related females and a coalition of males, with females outnumbering males. Social behavior begins when a new coalition of males takes over a pride. According to the University of Minnesota, in this takeover the males kill all the existing cubs so that they can reproduce right away. Despite this alliance of sorts between the males and the females of a pride, there is not a lot of socializing between the two groups. However, the females are fiercely loyal to each other, and the males are loyal to each other. Once a male coalition is established, it sticks together. Females of a pride protect each other and their cubs from outside females.
Lions’ social behavior is also territorial. They display this by actively fighting outside females and males who try to encroach upon their territory. Lionesses kill the cubs of lionesses from rival prides, while male lions protect the pride from outside coalitions that try to take over. The lion’s roar is one display of territorial behavior.
