# How long could an African Lion survive in West Virginia?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-an-african-lion-survive-in-west-virginia/424903>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 1, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-an-african-lion-survive-in-west-virginia/424903 "2007-11-01T18:43:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-an-african-lion-survive-in-west-virginia/424903/21 "2007-11-02T23:10:43Z")

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Why bother with deer, when there are farm pigs & cattle?

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**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-an-african-lion-survive-in-west-virginia/424903/22 "2007-11-03T00:17:16Z")

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[QUOTE=RickJay]  
Why couldn’t it? They catch antelope.  
[/QUOTE]

The lionesses catch antelope while the males sit under the shade trees..

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-an-african-lion-survive-in-west-virginia/424903/23 "2007-11-03T00:29:44Z")

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[QUOTE=jtgain]  
The lionesses catch antelope while the males sit under the shade trees..  
[/QUOTE]

Bachelor males hunt well enough. Non-bachelor males don’t hunt ( much ) because they are too busy warding off bachelor males.

But actually lions turn out to be substantial carrion eaters in Africa, snatching kills from other large predators ( in one study they scavenged a much larger proportion of their meals than did sympatric spotted hyenas, who are actually excellent hunters ). I’m not to sure how much of that is facultative ( probably a fair bit ). But for a lion used to operating that way, it might make for a painful adjustment in West Virginia.

I’ll also note that re: **RickJay** on the solitary nature of tigers, even bachelor male lions are usually social. They typically wander in teams of 2-4 brothers. Whether they could adjust to solo hunting as successfully is an open question.

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