Lions are one of many pack animals, but they are the only felines that live in packs. A pride of lions is what you would call a pack of invisible hunters. It may include as many as three males, a dozen females, and their young. Each member has a role to play — the lioness, or lioness, hunts and provides food for the group, while the male protects and defends the group’s territory. Cub? Well, their job is to look cute. Together they do everything from finding food to raising their children. However, there are times when the peace of the group is disrupted. An example of this is when a male is kicked out of his pride.
In the video below, one male lion can be seen in a brutal fight with three other male lions. Two of them were biting another while the third was watching them. They were seen dragging the lion with its deadly jaws while their victim was clearly struggling. He growled at them, seemingly losing the battle as he was trapped on the ground by the other two. The video then cuts to two other males fighting a lion, which appears to be the one that was kicked out of the pride earlier.
Why are lions kicked out of their pride?
©The Len/Shutterstock.com
When they are two or three years old, young males are kicked out of their pride. It might be a betrayal, but it’s the nature of lion life – they drive the males out to fend for themselves. They will leave their original group and try to survive on their own until they dominate another pride.
Why are there more female lions than male lions?
It’s not that simple to move from one pride to another. In doing so, only a handful of young males survive, and most of them die in the wild. When they do find the pride to join, it’s a matter of asserting dominance over all the resident males of the group. They do this by fighting, and if several lions fight one, it will most likely result in the death of one or several lions. It doesn’t help that the existing male in the pride is obsessed with protecting his group, as it is their responsibility to do so, while the other male is desperate for the pride to survive longer in the wild.
When the male lion does gain the upper hand and makes it into the pride, he kills the existing cubs because they hate being a stepfather. He does this mainly because lionesses don’t have time to mate while they’re nursing their cubs. Male lion peers in male prides are indeed survival of the fittest.
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I am broadly interested in how human activities influence the ability of wildlife to persist in the modified environments that we create.
Specifically, my research investigates how the configuration and composition of landscapes influence the movement and population dynamics of forest birds. Both natural and human-derived fragmenting of habitat can influence where birds settle, how they access the resources they need to survive and reproduce, and these factors in turn affect population demographics. Most recently, I have been studying the ability of individuals to move through and utilize forested areas which have been modified through timber harvest as they seek out resources for the breeding and postfledging phases. As well I am working in collaboration with Parks Canada scientists to examine in the influence of high density moose populations on forest bird communities in Gros Morne National Park. Many of my projects are conducted in collaboration or consultation with representatives of industry and government agencies, seeking to improve the management and sustainability of natural resource extraction.
