What Do Lions Eat? Lion Diet, Prey and Hunting Explained

The main prey of lions

The lion is a hypercarnivore: almost all of its food is meat. It concentrates on medium-sized and large grazing animals, which give the most food for the effort and risk of a hunt. Studies across Africa suggest lions prefer prey weighing roughly 190–550 kg (420–1,210 lb).

Lions also take impala, topi, hartebeest, kudu, waterbuck and eland, and sometimes young hippos, young rhinos or ostriches. They generally avoid adult elephants, rhinos and hippos, and small animals such as hares and dik-diks are too small to be worth chasing for a group.

Why lion diets differ from place to place

What lions eat depends on what is common nearby. In the Serengeti, prides near the migration routes feed heavily on wildebeest and zebras while the herds are present, then switch to buffalo, warthogs and resident antelopes when the herds move on. In Kruger National Park and the Okavango Delta, some prides specialize in buffalo, which are dangerous but feed a whole pride for days; see Do buffalo fight lions?.

In the Kalahari, lions live in smaller groups and eat more gemsbok, wildebeest and smaller animals such as porcupines and springbok, often going without water for long periods. In Chobe National Park, Botswana, large prides have learned to kill young elephants, mostly during the dry season. Around India’s Gir Forest, Asiatic lions eat wild deer and, outside protected areas, a large share of domestic cattle and buffalo.

How do lions hunt?

Lions are not built for long chases. Their hearts are small relative to their body size, so they run only in short bursts at about 50–60 km/h (31–37 mph). To succeed, they must creep within about 30 m (100 ft) of prey before charging.

Lionesses do most of the group hunting. In a typical cooperative hunt, some lionesses circle to the sides while others wait in the center, so that fleeing prey runs toward a hidden hunter. Each lioness often takes a favorite position. Hunts are more successful at night, on moonless nights and where grass or bushes give cover.

Males hunt too. They usually hunt alone or with their coalition partners, ambushing prey in thick vegetation, and are especially effective at overpowering heavy animals such as buffalo. Even so, most lion hunts fail. In classic Serengeti studies, roughly one hunt in four ended in a kill, and success varied widely with the prey species and conditions.

Do lions scavenge?

Yes. Lions are opportunists and readily eat animals that died of disease or drought, as well as kills made by other predators. In Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater, early research found that lions got much of their food by driving spotted hyenas off hyena kills, the reverse of the popular image. Elsewhere, hyenas sometimes gather in large enough numbers to chase lionesses off a carcass.

Lions also steal from cheetahs, leopards and African wild dogs, and they kill these competitors when they get the chance. That is one reason why cheetahs lose a share of their kills and why leopards haul food up into trees.

How much does a lion eat?

On average, an adult lioness needs about 5 kg (11 lb) of meat a day and a male about 7 kg (15 lb). In practice, lions eat in a feast-and-famine pattern. After a big kill, a lion may eat up to about 30 kg (66 lb) in a single meal, then rest and digest for a day or more. Lions often go three or four days between kills.

At a carcass, squabbling is normal. Males tend to dominate, adult females come next and cubs eat last, so cubs are the first to suffer when food is scarce. A large kill such as a buffalo or giraffe can feed a pride for several days, and lions may drag a carcass into shade or cover to eat it.

Myths about what lions eat

A common belief is that lions eat every day and that males never hunt. In fact, lions regularly go days without food, and male lions hunt successfully, especially large prey. Another myth is that lions are “pure hunters” that never scavenge; as the Ngorongoro example shows, lions often take food from other predators. Finally, lions do not usually hunt people. Attacks are rare and tend to happen where wild prey has disappeared and people and livestock live close to lions.