The researchers found that males' territories overlapped the ranges of multiple female prides, and also frequently overlapped the ranges of other male coalitions. Coalitions ranged in size from one to four males, while prides consisted of three to eight females and their young. The researchers combined detailed observations and tracking data from 70 adult lions living in the Gir forests, including 11 coalitions of males and nine prides of females. The study is part of a long-term project led by Yadvendradev Jhala, a researcher at the Wildlife Institute of India. This month at a virtual meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Chakrabarti presented findings from a 2019 study in the journal Behavioral Ecology that revealed the hidden dramas of these lions' lives. "You make a lot of noise you stand your ground." He adds that the researchers try not to approach too closely, and nonprofessionals should keep their distance from lions.) ("If a lion charges at you, never show your back," said Chakrabarti. This image may only be reproduced with this Inside Science article.Ĭhakrabarti and his colleagues have studied these lions for years, following them through the forest armed with only bamboo canes. Now, it survives only as a remnant population of about 600, confined to a 20,000-square-kilometer region in western India known as the Gir forests.
The Asiatic subspecies once roamed from Greece through the Middle East and well into India. Promiscuous femalesĪsiatic lions are a subspecies of Panthera leo, genetically distinct from but part of the same species as their African kin. But while the Serengeti is a savanna habitat, Asiatic lions live in the forest, and that shapes everything from what they hunt to whom they associate with. It may also shape the way lionesses use their feminine wiles - one of the only tools they have to protect their cubs from murderous males. In many respects, lions in India face the same pressures as their better-studied counterparts in the Serengeti region of Africa. The following year, Chakrabarti saw a different mother lioness perform the exact same deception with two more invading males.Ĭhakrabarti's research is revealing the complex strategies Asiatic lionesses employ to keep their cubs alive.
She returned to the cubs and then led them even farther away from the invading males. Most of the action happens on days two and three, when the pair copulates an average of 50 to 70 times a day. But normally, mating lions will spend two to five days together. It's common for lionesses to sneak away from trysts before a male is ready to part ways, said Chakrabarti. … And of course, we cannot be as silent as the cats." "It was amusing, but it was also very frightening for us, because he's going to follow every noise.
He went berserk," said Stotra Chakrabarti, an animal behaviorist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
In the early morning when her lover was asleep, the lioness snuck away, carefully placing each paw to avoid dry leaves and snapping twigs. Male lions form tightknit coalitions, so the other male remained nearby. The mother lioness led the two invaders about 2 to 3 kilometers away from her cubs, then gave one of the males what he expected: a day of flirting and occasional copulations. When the invaders saw her performance, they followed eagerly.
Lion protecting lioness how to#
But she knew all the moves - how to nuzzle a male's shoulder and flick her tail in front of his nose as though she were in heat. The lioness was still nursing, not ready to be impregnated again. If they found the cubs, they would kill them. Since they were new to the region, there was no way either of them could be the father of the lioness's cubs. The strange males' roars echoed through the Indian forest, proclaiming their intent to drive out local males and claim new territory. (Inside Science) - On a bright day in 2015, an Asiatic lioness hid her cubs in a thicket and went to meet two strangers.
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