Abstract
Sociality is one of the distinctive features of Lions (Panthera leo), which are the only social felids. Their evolutionary history is important both for understanding the evolution of sociality and that of other sympatric species owing to their widespread distribution throughout the entire Holarctic region during the Pleistocene. Lion grouping patterns, cooperative behaviour and strategies vary throughout their range and in different habitats. Their resilience in diverse habitats facing a variety of conservation pressures is largely owing to this plasticity of lion social behaviour. This review describes the variation in social organisation of lions in 11 habitats across Africa, taking into account relevant ecological parameters. The social organization of the Asiatic Lion is described from this perspective using the results of previous studies and of a five-year study conducted between 2002 and 2006 in the Gir forest of India.
Highlights
Since social living does not show a serial evolutionary trend across taxa, it appears that group living has evolved in each major taxonomic family independently across the order (Gittleman 1989)
The resource dispersion hypothesis explains the evolution of sociality, and states that dispersion and abundance of resources causes variation in the social system of carnivores (MacDonald 1983)
This review presents baseline data on lion social organisation and habitat-specific ecological parameters (Table 2-4), including pride and coalition composition, male-female interaction, pride size, home-range, habitat, prey availability and competition
Summary
There are several types of carnivore grouping that represent functional responses to both the environment as well as kinship and relatedness, namely foraging groups (related to hunting success), feeding groups (related to sharing of food), population groups (related to sharing a common home-range) and breeding groups (related to mating) (Gittleman 1989) Behaviours such as guarding of foraging and breeding grounds, mutual regurgitation, sharing of reproductive opportunities among group members and communal suckling or rearing of young ones have been associated with kin selection (Bertram 1979). This review presents baseline data on lion social organisation and habitat-specific ecological parameters (Table 2-4), including pride and coalition composition, male-female interaction, pride size, home-range, habitat, prey availability and competition. Kinship is essential for the maintenance of larger coalitions, a strategy that would compensate for low individual reproductive success (Packer et al 1991)
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