Diet Information

What Do Lions Eat? Lions eat a large variety of prey, but the bulk of their diet is usually made up by medium and large ungulates, such as buffalo, wildebeest, giraffe, and zebra. Lions have been known to feed on more than 40 different species, but populations within a single ecosystem will typically be reliant on two or three key species of prey. Like domestic cats, lions are obligate or “true” carnivores, meaning that they rely on nutrients that can only be found in animal flesh.

How much do lions eat? The amount of food eaten by lions varies greatly from day to day, but averages 5 to 10kg per day. However, they can eat a lot more when food is abundant: males can eat as much as 40kg of meat – around a quarter of their body weight – at a time, while females can eat up to 25kg in a day.

The order in which lions in a pride get to eat is determined by the dominance hierarchy: adult males will eat first, followed by adult females, and then sub-adults and cubs of both sexes. A large kill will typically be defended less fiercely than a small kill, as there is more meat to go around.

How do lions eat? Lions usually start feeding from the stomach, as this is the easiest point of entry and gives access to some of the most nutritious parts of the prey, such as the kidneys and liver. Lions will generally eat all edible parts of the prey, but are not able to easily digest hair. As a result, lion faeces can be identified by the presence of hair, which can be used to work out which species a lion has eaten.

Lions eventually consume all edible parts of a kill but usually start from the stomach, where it is easiest to break through the skin and into the most nutritious parts of the animal.