Seasonal Diet and Prey Preference of the African Lion in a Waterhole-Driven Semi-Arid Savanna
Open accessAbstract
Large carnivores inhabiting ecosystems with heterogeneously distributed environmental resources with strong seasonal variations frequently employ opportunistic foraging strategies, often typified by seasonal switches in diet. In semi-arid ecosystems, herbivore distribution is generally more homogeneous in the wet season, when surface water is abundant, than in the dry season when only permanent sources remain. Here, we investigate the seasonal contribution of the different herbivore species, prey preference and distribution of kills (i.e. feeding locations) of African lions in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, a semi-arid African savanna structured by artificial waterholes. We used data from 245 kills and 74 faecal samples. Buffalo consistently emerged as the most frequently utilised prey in all seasons by both male (56%) and female (33%) lions, contributing the most to lion dietary biomass. Jacobs' index also revealed that buffalo was the most intensively selected species throughout the year. For female lions, kudu and to a lesser extent the group "medium Bovidae" are the most important secondary prey. This study revealed seasonal patterns in secondary prey consumption by female lions partly based on prey ecology with browsers, such as giraffe and kudu, mainly consumed in the early dry season, and grazers, such as zebra and suids, contributing more to female diet in the late dry season. Further, it revealed the opportunistic hunting behaviour of lions for prey as diverse as elephants and mice, with elephants taken mostly as juveniles at the end of the dry season during droughts. Jacobs' index finally revealed a very strong preference for kills within 2 km from a waterhole for all prey species, except small antelopes, in all seasons. This suggested that surface-water resources form passive traps and contribute to the structuring of lion foraging behaviour.
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Buffalo are a preferred prey species in several savanna ecosystems.
“Whereas buffalo are a preferred prey species in several savanna ecosystems [21,57,58], they constituted less than 5% of kills found during our study, and less than 1% of male kills (Table 5), despite male lions specifically targeting buffalo elsewhere [52].”
From Effects of Vegetation Structure on the Location of Lion Kill Sites in African Thicket (2016) · cites this paper as [58]
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Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Effects of Vegetation Structure on the Location of Lion Kill Sites in African Thicket
Davies, A. B., Tambling, C. J., Kerley, G. I. H., & Asner, G. P. (2016) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0149098 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
- Authors
- Davidson, Z., Valeix, M., Van Kesteren, F., Loveridge, A. J., Hunt, J. E., Murindagomo, F., & Macdonald, D. W.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Lyon 1 Université (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Davidson, Zeke
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2013-02-06
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- e55182
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3566210
- OpenAlex
- W1982006692
- Cited by
- 151
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 5
- FWCI
- 8.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Panthera
- Eppley Foundation for Research
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Keywords
- African lion, leopard, seasonal diet, prey selection, waterholes, semi-arid savanna, opportunistic feeding, buffalo, Kudus, giraffe, zebra, Suidae, elephants, drought, Hwange National Park
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Diet, Environment, Female, Lions, Male, Predatory Behavior, Seasons, Zimbabwe, Ecosystem, Biomass, Herbivory
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