Lions regularly spend time apart from their prides, either splintering into temporary small groups, females breaking off to look for males to mate with, or lionesses denning small cubs and staying in the vicinity of the den for days at a time – or even longer – not returning to the bulk of the pride at all.
We have been seeing that a lot recently in the Ntsevu Pride. The sub-adults are being seen on their own consistently – and not together but in small isolated groups – the lioness with five cubs has been alone a lot, and then the rest of the adult lionesses are regularly seen in groups of two or three.
But just how strong is the desire within the individual lions to return to the core social unit? Do they miss each other? Group living comes with some obvious benefits, especially for an apex predator: the ability to hunt as a unit, the ability to bring down bigger prey items, defending a territory more effectively, better defence of cubs… the list goes on. Having said all this though, the reality is that solitary living also comes with some benefits. Kills or scavenged meals don’t need to be shared, energy can be conserved in staying localised… but just how much doesthesocial bond make individual lions – or small groups of them – want to reunite? Is that desire purely coming from a companionship perspective?
I’ve been sitting with lionesses who hear the calls of the rest of their pride and disdain from answering. Yet I’ve also sat with lionesses who upon hearing one of their relatives vocalise, offer an immediate contact call and go running in that direction, despite only having been separated for a few hours that we know of. As with most things in nature, the answer is not black and white, and there are a number of factors of which we’re not aware that drive lions’ desire to head back to their pride. Both push and pull factors will play their part; time away from the rest, how many individuals are involved, how young the individual is/are, how long since a meal.
A solitary sub-adult that has been split from her pride for four days will almost certainly be more eager to reunite than two lionesses who are hunting successfully together and don’t have much to worry about in terms of defending themselves. The question is probably less about the active missing of that social bond than it is about the immediate needs of the lions involved being filled. If a mother is hiding cubs in a riverbed, her first priority is to keep them safe and fed. That should supersede anything else in her life. If she has nursed them and stashed them in a hollow log or a thorn thicket, her priorities realign, and she can now think about feeding herself. Again, the immediate situation or need then plays a key role; can this lioness find food on her own or does she need the extra strength of the pride? Moreover, where is the pride? Would the energy expended in trying to find them be more than it would take to simply try and catch an impala by herself?
I realise of course, that all I’m doing here is presenting a whole bunch of questions, but as we’ve stated numerous times in this forum, it’s thenotknowing that makes the whole thing so appealing.
I know in the past I’ve steered clear of placing human emotions on animals – or at least I’ve tried – but I think in this case, with a social creature like a lion, in which bodily contact is an almost daily part of reaffirming bonds, strengthening the unit, and making sure each member of the pride knows who’s who, for themnotto have that would slowly but surely lead them to feel that there’s something missing, not matter whether they’re aware of it or not.
Seeing the very evident emotion with which they greet each other after even a short absence, and in the absence of a better label, I’m pretty sure that lions do miss their pride.
They just might not realise it themselves…
Filed under Featured Lions Wildlife
Alumni
James had hardly touched a camera when he came to Londolozi, but his writing skills that complemented his Honours degree in Zoology meant that he was quickly snapped up by the Londolozi blog team. An environment rich in photographers helped him develop the ...
View James's profile
Birds, General Nature, Rangers, Safari Experience, Wildlife
Unravelling the Avian Art of Co-operative Breeding
Reece BiehlerJun 18, 20240
General Nature, Rangers, Wildlife
Shaking up the Torchwood Trees
Kelsey ClarkJun 17, 20245
History, Leopards, Rangers, Tracking, Wildlife
The Legacy Of Leopard Tracking At Londolozi
Shannon DawsonJun 15, 202417
on Do Lions Miss Their Pride?
Join the conversationJoin the conversation
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Connect using
Hi James may the dynamic of the pride behaviour be different from that that caused the death of the Othawa male if attacked by the avoca males?
Reply
Magnificent photos of magnificent subjects. Thank you!
Reply
What about that lioness that list her pride and for 3 days she stayed in the same spot calling on the third she seen a pride down the road, she was careful to make sure it was hers. Soon they all realized ran towards each other greeted with lots of face rubs and then they spent the day together right there. It’s a two min video, very touching
Reply
James the Lions are usually so affectionate towards each other. Now this begs the question of why are they splitting up into smaller groups. I am beginning to think it could be for food, so that they don’t have to share it with so many other pride members. You can understand when a female goes off on her own to give birth and to feed the cubs. The Ntsevu pride had a lot of members before , the breaking up into smaller groups makes a person wonder why they are doing this. When they call each other from a distance they usually ran to meet each other. I suppose we will never understand their behavior completely.
Reply
This reading arouse so much thinking in me. I see your leopards becoming more social. May it be a different story with lions? Or may a certain kind of interspecies interference exist between those cats living so close in a game reserve territory? Thanks a lot for the article.
Reply
Hmmmmmm James, this really brought a smile to my face and I love to think are absolutely correct. The expression and body language of the two females greeting each other is surely affirmation!
Reply
I tend to agree with you James in your assessment that lions do feel a familia bond, even whilst separated. In the example of the Ntsevus, at 22 strong at one point, perhaps breaking away into smaller groups was the only way to survive-one Buffalo kill isn’t enough to feed a crowd. But like in any family, absence could make the heart grow fonder and after ignoring familiar family calls, the one came that couldn’t be ignored. Romantic thought perhaps, but who knows, really?
Reply
Wonderful pictures, James, especially the one in which all of them are taking it easy on the airfield. And also the one with the two lionesses greeting each other so fondly.
Regarding human emotions and animals: We humans also evolved from the same kind of ancestors, billions of years ago and for that reason might well share some common emotions, I think. And we do understand at least some of the body language of animals. So there must be something we have in common.
I don’t want to become too philosophical, but…
Reply
James, What a great post. We have been fortunate to see the positive emotions from members of a pride when they are reunited. We have also seen the drama when competing males try to gain control. We have always said that lion drama is way more exciting than the reality shows on TV!!! 😉
Reply
Funny your should be bringing this topic up, as I was thinking the same thing reading the recent stories on the dynamics of the Ntsevu Pride. A conundrum indeed…perhaps it’s just a matter of wanting to spend time alone once in awhile, away from the maddening crowd 😂. However the needs of each lion/lioness at a given time, as you say James, require some distance so I’m sure they can’t wait for that moment to pass in order to reconnect with the ‘tribe’ 🙏🏻
Reply
You bring up a good question, Do Lions Miss Their Pride? I’ve noticed territorial males searching for one another and reaffirming their relationship when they meet-up and when they meet up with their pride after a territorial patrol. I do think there may be other factors as to why they choose to be away from the pride, but when they do meet up, there is that instant greeting by all.
Reply
An interesting blog James. These are times when you wish they could talk and we could find the answer to these questions. Thanks for sharing with us.
Reply
Like everything in this world there is undoubtably a range of personalities and life experiences and psychological reasons why lions or any other social creatures may prefer to be mostly with the pride or mostly/entirely separate from the pride with a wide range in between.
Reply
This weeks captures have so much expression amidst the lions daily lives. – The affection shared by the two Ntsevu subadults is adorable. It’s heart warming. The clan of lions layinig on the road is comical. All I can think is,.. “Silly ol kitties!” 🙂
Reply
All interesting questions. Leads me to ask why then does the lioness who leaves, travels in and out of the pride as a subadult really do face shunning by the females? If the instinct is to be affectionate and accepting, what’s the real underlying trigger to not accept her back? What will the fate of the lone subadult female split with the males be? Lions are truly a better drama than any on t.v!
Reply
As lion behaviors are all about domination and survival of one’s bloodlines, I think you’ve got it right in saying they just don’t realize missing each other themselves. It is a treat to witness their reunions though. They certainly do appear to be affectionate.
Reply
Follow Us
Sign up for our Newsletters
Thanks for signing up!
