This website was completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Biology 323, Animal Behavior, at Davidson College in the Spring Semester 2009.

A Case of Cooperative Hunting: African Lions and African Wild Dogs

Part I: Introduction

Permission and photgraph from Hans-Georg Michna (http://www.michna.com/kenya2007)

Social Hunting in Terrestrial Carnivores
            The majority, about 85%, of terrestrial carnivore species are solitary animals. The other 15% are social species that live in aggregate communities and cooperate in tasks such as hunting, guarding the territory, and caring for young. Social hunting affords many advantages to those species and/or populations that cooperatively hunt. A wider range of prey, greater hunting success, and more efficient use of energy are some examples of the advantages of group hunting.

Social Hunting in African Lions
            Lions are the only true social feline species. Lions live in prides of anywhere between three and thirty members, mostly females and their cubs. The females are usually related and they are accompanied by a group of males, usually brothers, who will mate with the females in the pride for up to several years. All lionesses mate as there is no strict hierarchy among the female. Pride size depends on the terrain and resources available in the habitat.
            Lions kill by a lethal bite to the prey’s neck which eventually causes suffocation of the animal being hunted. They typically hunt late at night or early in the morning as their night vision is much better than that of their prey. The lionesses do a majority of the hunting and if they live in a large pride, will sometimes break into multiple smaller hunting groups of 3-5 individuals. While hunting success is generally greater for groups than for solitary hunters, lion groups of three are just as good at hunting as larger groups for a majority of prey types.

Social Hunting in African Wild Dogs
            African wild dogs live in packs of between 4 and 20+ individuals and the pack is headed by an alpha pair. Only the alpha pair mates but all members of the pack assist in rearing the pups. Wild dogs have a slim body type but are capable of running long distances in order to catch prey. They are considered to be the most successful carnivores in Africa, with a hunting success rate far higher than lions of hyenas.
            Wild dogs are coursers, meaning they chase their prey over long distances until the prey falls from shock or exhaustion. The dogs often bite the legs and bellies of the prey while chasing and they kill by disemboweling the animal. Oftentimes, wild dogs will begin devouring their kill before the animal is dead. African wild dogs typically hunt in the late morning and late afternoon, before the sun sets.

Questions:

Why are lions the only social felines? What are the reasons for the occurrence of social hunting in these species?

Permission granted by Bart Swanson through Wikimedia Commons

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