Process Essay 2
How Lions Hunt
Lions are top tier predators, and they are famous for being the only big cats with complex social relationships. These social relationships and individual roles of the pride members are what make lions highly intelligent, which allows them to develop outstanding hunting strategies. Due to those extraordinary hunting strategies and their unique way of living as a tribe, a group of lions’ hunting success rate could be twice more than that of a single lion. Male lions rarely participate or charge the hunting. Female lions, also called lionesses, are usually in charge of hunting , despite weighing less than males, and this gives them extra speed to a maximum speed of 6kph. They are also smaller in size, which allows them to stalk and hide in the bushes without being noticed easily. This special hunting process could be divided into three steps.
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First, a single lioness picks out the prey for the hunt by staring at it, and the rest of the group would look at the same target. This is the only communication form in the whole hunting process. The group of lionesses would fan out, and separate into left, middle, and right wings. Being extremely patient, some of them encircle or cover the herd of prey from all sides and stalk up slowly to their target. Throughout this process, all lionesses fully understand their individual roles and hide in their own spots as they wait for their turn to attack.
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Next, after getting close enough, the fastest runner runs quickly towards the herd of prey in an attempt to separate and attack the weaker, elder, or the infant ones. The other lions come from a greater distance to encircle the prey, they would chase the target and guide it towards the hidden heaviest, strongest lioness. If one lioness fails to capture the prey, they would chase it right to the other ambushed spot, it is like having multiple barriers. With barriers after barriers, most prey is not able to make it out alive.
Finally, if one lioness succeeds in capturing the target, the other would rush in to attack by using their weight to wrestle it down. The lionesses would bite on the spinal cord of the prey, and try to slow it down by damaging the bone marrow (tissue inside the bones). If the prey is taken down, they turn to bite on the throat, nose, and mouth to block the airways and suffocate it. After the whole tiring hunting process, the lionesses are finally able to feed their family, and the whole pride would gather to enjoy their feedings.
The lions’ unique ways of hunting has made them one of the most prosperous big cats, and it fully shows that lions are not only strong but wise. Their hunting process include three steps: stalking up prey and clearly understood their roles in hunting, setting up barriers (after barriers) to make sure they capture the target, and finally using their strength to take down their prey. The lion is definitely one of the most deadly killer on Earth.
Sources (in alphabetical order)
https://images.app.goo.gl/3Dw988KvLjkbCoqU8 (third picture)
https://images.app.goo.gl/kjBuvTfxc6Z31vkZ8 (second picture)
https://images.app.goo.gl/ZL4yHYXPtaWh19yL6 (first picture)
How Do Lions Hunt? Know Their Hunting Tactics by SNOW AFRICA ADVENTURES
https://snowafricaadventure.com/blog/hunting-strategy-of-the-lions/
How Lions Hunt Their Prey by SNOW AFRICA ADVENTURES
https://snowafricaadventure.com/blog/how-lions-hunt-their-prey-watch-these-3-incredible-videos/
Predatory Behavior - Lion Hunting by LION ALERT
https://lionalert.org/predatory-behaviour/
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