Do lions even HAVE dens?

The phrase “into the lion’s den” made me stop to wonder: do lions even have dens?

Small cats are hot-weather beasts and you usually find them lounging in the heat; caves — which is what I think of when I see “den” — are surely colder.

Perhaps big cats (such as lions, who once had a very wide range) spend more time lounging in the shade. Being bigger they shed heat less easily, I’d imagine, but there don’t seem to be many suitable caves in the African savannah.

If we presume large, hot-weather cats use dens because of their body mass, that suggests that cheetahs, tigers and panthers also have dens, but I’ve never heard it said of them.

What’s the deal? Do big cats somehow find large cardboard boxes, paper bags, or bathroom sinks to sleep in out there in the wild?

That phrase (and the related “Daniel in the lion’s den”) come from the book of Daniel in the Bible. The den in question was man-made, a pit where the kings of Babylon kept their captive lions which also allowed a particular form of execution.

The maneaters of Tsavo certainly had a den. As I recall, they found a cave littered with bones. However, some people think that these cats were a different kettle of fish than regular lions. One of the reasons for this is that they did live in a cave. They are also bigger than a regular lion and the males don’t have manes.

Female lions (and some other cats) will go off by themselves to give birth to their cubs/kittens; they usually seek out some kind of sheltered “den” to do so in and to keep the babies hidden for a few weeks before bringing them out and rejoining the pride. The den might be an actual cave, or a thicket, or some other kind of sheltered spot.

The range of the lion used to extend through northern Africa into Asia. They were present in Palestine until a few hundred years ago. They may have made use of dens in rocky, mountainous parts of their range.

Given jayjay’s post above stating the lion’s keepers constructed it an artificial den, we might make some guesses:[ul][]Lions did live in dens, in that region, and this would be easily observed. People knew to build a den for a captive lion.[]Lions did live in dens, but the people didn’t know that at first; they arrived at the idea of a den through long experimentation with other captive lions.[]Lions didn’t live in dens but the zoo handlers built one anyway, presumably the better to keep a lion confined safely.[]They didn’t have a lion at all, but an anteater. They did, however, have a hat that said “lion tamer” on it in neon letters.[/ul]

I understand they originally called it “Daniel In The Anteaters’ Den” but it got lousy reviews so they changed it.

It’s a common mistake. Lions and anteaters are easily confused.

On a hunch, not a documented answer:

Consider the everyday cat. In warm weather, it sleeps wherever it feels safe. When dealing with a litter, in predominantly dangerous territory, or in colder weather, it locates a secluded lair for itself.

Modern lions’ range is limited to subsaharan Africa and a small enclave in India, I believe in Gujarat. The climate is almost totally tropical or subtropical. A pride will den up only when in need of extra security.

But historically lions had a much broader range, including western Asia, much more of India, and a substantial part of Europe – much of which was in temperate climate. For lions to den up may have been a response to climate – and most of the fables, etc., regarding lions, reference them having a standard retreat, a den or lair. (In passing, Ice Age Europe had the cave lion, which I believe is a closely related species, but with a standard ‘home’ of a particular cave.)

Answer by analogy is fraught with potential for error, but I’m relatively comfortable with the implications I drew from this one.