Lions feed on buffalo and other wildlife.
Lions are carnivores, so the main component of their diet is meat. In the wild, a lion’s diet generally consists of wildebeest, zebra, and buffalo. Giraffes, elephants, and baby rhinos also tend to be favorites. However, lions kept in captivity are generally unable to hunt. For these animals, meals are usually made of beef and chicken.
In almost all cases, a lion’s diet is strictly meat. Lions enjoy a diversity of prey but rarely eat grass, fruit, or other vegetation. They eat vegetables to stave off hunger, but it is never their first choice.
Lionesses in a pride will hunt together for weak or resting animals.
All types of lions are natural hunters. In the wild, they live in groups known as bands and live off the meat of animals they capture and kill in community hunts. Hunting is predominantly carried out by the matriarchs of the clan and is usually done at night. Lionesses will roam the savannah in search of resting animals that make it easy to capture.
Lions often attack giraffes.
During the day, lions often run alongside packs of other animals, looking for weaker members to attack. Lions are generally very fast runners and will generally attack by overtaking their prey or by running until the prey is exhausted and then attack. The strong jaws of lions make the kill easy; the hardest part is usually dragging the meat back to the clan.
Lions can steal kills from other predators like cheetahs and hyenas.
Lions have also been known to steal the kill from other animals, especially hyenas and cheetahs. Most of these sequestered foods are smaller, such as the meat of antelopes or gazelles. Lions are not picky eaters when it comes to meat, and most will devour any animal that has ever been alive.
For the most part, a wild lion’s diet consists of whatever the pack leaders are capable of catching. Much of this is dictated by location, as well as the overall ecological health of the lion’s habitat. During droughts, for example, lions often benefit from the start. Other animals weaken in search of water and are consequently more vulnerable and exposed.
However, as time passes and prides continue or die, the pride of lions can suffer. In desperate times, a lion’s diet may include lizards, rodents, or other small creatures. Clan members are usually left to fend for themselves in these circumstances and cannot always rely on community hunts for the food they need to survive.
The diet of a captive lion is usually quite different in terms of the structure and content of the meals. Lions kept in zoos or wildlife reserves are generally not allowed to be hunters. Partly this is for safety reasons, but it also prevents the immediate slaughter of live animals. Unlike in the wild, where all animals are free until they are captured and killed, in captivity, lions have a distinct and unparalleled advantage in that their prey has nowhere to go.
Captive lions are often fed meat prepared by keepers at certain times. These meats often include beef and chicken, usually chicken and turkey. The meat is almost always served on the bone, so the lions have the opportunity to gnaw it apart as they would in the wild. She is almost always presented dead, with the caretaker acting as the matriarch returning from the slaughter.
Depending on the zoo, lions may also be given cereal supplements. Lions that aren’t actively hunting generally don’t require the same amount of lean protein as their wild counterparts. With that in mind, zoos often find it more economical to combine meat and carbohydrates in a captive lion’s diet. This is a controversial and much-debated deviation from the lion’s natural tendencies and has not received wide international support.