How Can Lions Coexist with People?

Answering the question: Do lions experience fear?

When a lion comes to mind, you may imagine an animal more fierce, brave and powerful than any other on the African savanna — a species that has evolved to be the perfect hunter and fears no one. While this is mostly accurate, it turns out that even “the king of the jungle” experiences fear and weighs the risks and rewards of their interactions with other species. 

African lions are apex carnivores — a term that describes their place at the top of food webs. It also means lions have evolved without the pressure of being hunted by another species. However, lions have co-evolved with other apex predators as competitors, including spotted hyenas, who may kill lion cubs. Modern humans and lions have also co-evolved for hundreds of thousands of years on the African savanna. During that time, humans have evolved from regular lion prey to more recently becoming a competitor to and hunter of lions.  

Could lions have developed fear and avoidance to cope with the presence of these dangerous hunters? I explored this very question in a study recently published in the Journal of African Ecology.

Following 12 lions 

I began my work in the Greater Limpopo Conservation Area, a vast landscape covering Kruger National Park in South Africa and Limpopo and Banhine National Parks in Mozambique. To start, I fitted GPS tracking collars on 12 lions and followed these individuals for over a year. I recorded where they traveled and which habitats they used, measuring the sizes of their home ranges. The collars also led me to lion kill sites, where I identified their prey species. I also collected data on all other local wild and domestic ungulates (hooved mammals) which may be prey for lions, recording their species, numbers and locations. In total, I recorded 13,000 lion locations, 80 lion kill sites and 24,000 wild and domestic ungulates. 

Lion habitat selection 

By comparing these data, my team and I calculated the probabilities of lions selecting or avoiding different habitats. The results showed that lions have a strong preference for eating the largest ungulates available, animals which, according to the ecological theory of “optimal foraging,” would provide the most food for their effort. These species included animals such as buffalo, zebra and wildebeest, which the lions killed more often relative to their abundance, rather than smaller but more numerous animals, such as impala, nyala and warthog. In landscapes where the biggest wild animals were missing due to overhunting, the lions ate the next biggest animals available, often kudu.

A surprising discovery

However, there was a dramatic twist and eye-opening exception to this rule with far-reaching implications. It turns out that while the lions did kill some cattle, they didn’t do it very often and not nearly as often as was expected. This is a surprise because cattle are about the perfect size for lions to eat and they are less dangerous to hunt than buffalo or zebra. Furthermore, cattle outnumbered all large wild prey species across the Mozambican landscape, meaning that a lion in that landscape was far more likely to find a cow than a wild ungulate. 

A similar pattern emerged when looking at lion movements. Lions used landscapes that were also frequented by large wild ungulates but seemed to avoid landscapes used by cattle.

So, why don’t lions hunt more cattle? 

The answer likely lies in co-evolution. Even though lions are at the top of the food web, most lions seem to understand and consider the inherent danger of hunting cattle. And they know that danger doesn’t come from the cattle themselves, but from the herders who might poison or shoot lions found near their herds. Most lions judge that the risk is not worth the reward.  

The results of this study suggest that the most effective ways to reduce lion-livestock conflict — a major threat to lion conservation — are to protect healthy herds of wild ungulates so that lions can select for wild prey, while also increasing the perceived risk of hunting cattle. To support this, Panthera conducts anti-poaching patrols to protect all wildlife in Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park and Zambia’s Kafue National Park, both crucial lion landscapes. Additionally, Panthera works with local communities in Zambia to construct lion-proof bomas (enclosures) for livestock which have successfully prevented any lion or livestock deaths since 2021. 

The African lion population has fallen from about 100,000 lions 50 years ago to about 24,000 today. Findings like these help us better understand the species and design impactful conservation strategies.