The Heart of a Lion Trivia Quiz

Answer: Savanna

Most lions live on the savanna in a family group called a pride. Unlike most cats, female lions are social and hunt together. Typically there is only one adult male in a pride, with most adult males living alone or forming their own small groups. If a male feels strong enough, he may challenge the current male of a pride and, if victorious, can become the new male of the pride, so long as the females accept him.

Answer: India

There are actually a few hundred lions left living in the Gir Forest National Park of West India. Unlike African lions, male Asiatic lions have a less pronounced mane and tend to be smaller in overall size. Despite looking rather similar, African and Asiatic lions have enough differences in their genetic makeup that hybridization does not result in healthy offspring.

In 2013 the Indian government started making efforts to expand the range for the Asiatic lion in an attempt to help avoid extinction.

Answer: Kill all the cubs

Nature can be cruel in many ways. In order to gain control over the pride, the first thing a new male leader will do is kill all of the previous male's cubs. The process of killing the cubs will induce an estrus state in the females, allowing the new male to mate. Future cubs will now have the new male's genes passed down to them.

After this, the new male will try and defend his place as king for as long as he can. Typically either a younger new male will take over, or the females will kick out a male who is inadequate.

Answer: The male is in the center of the attack

The females do almost all of the hunting, and rarely does the male help out. However, once a kill is made, the male will be eager to be the first to eat! He will take the major share of the kill and leave the rest for the pride. While the females do all of the hunting, the male is responsible for protecting the pride and killing or chasing off threats, including other male lions.

Interestingly, a hunt is only successful about one-third of the time. While lions can reach a fast speed, they will only do so for a short burst so they rely on ambush as their primary method of hunting.

Answer: Yes

Lions are equal opportunists and will happily scavenge for already-killed food. In fact, scavenged food can make up over half of a lion's diet. Since lions are so big and work together, they are able to take away a meal from another predator. Hyenas are often strong enough and in large enough numbers that they can defend their kill and even steal a kill from a group of lions!

Answer: Go hunting

It's all about food with lions, isn't it? The noise of a storm makes the perfect time to sneak up and ambush prey, so lions will often go hunting during these times. This strategy is particularly effective when there is tall grass to hide in allowing them to sneak up on a herd.

It may be surprising, or terrifying, but lions can indeed climb trees! Getting down is much more of a challenge though.

Answer: Hyena

Most animals do not have the strength or courage to attack a lion. However, hyenas often form large groups and will work together. Interestingly, they will kill a lion to reduce the competition for food, but they typically stop short of eating the lion afterward. Hyenas are primarily interested in stealing and scavenging for food, instead of hunting live prey.

Speedy ostriches can reliably escape from lions. Jackals are too small to attack an adult lion, though they would consider attacking unguarded cubs. Leopards also tend to avoid lions.

Answer: Away from the pride

Fantastic job if you got this one right! I found it surprising to learn that when a lioness is ready to give birth she will wander away from the rest of the pride to give birth. She typically will stay away from the pride for about six weeks. When a cub is born they are completely defenseless and as little as three pounds. Once the six weeks is up, the mother will bring the cubs to the pride and the other females will help protect them.

Answer: Yes

Once cubs are introduced to the pride they will continue nursing until they are about six months old. Commonly, there are multiple lionesses who have nursing cubs and they will allow any cub of the pride to nurse. So even if a cub's mother dies, it will be able to nurse with any of the other lactating females of the pride.

Answer: Predators

Surprisingly, predators will kill off about half of the cubs of a pride. The females will often leave the cubs alone for a day or two at a time while they are hunting. At these times the cubs are vulnerable to being killed by other predators who will take the opportunity to sneak in for the kill. Of course, being killed by a new male leader of a pride is also a risk. Starvation and illness are much less common.