# Why don’t lions hunt other lions? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534 "2011-08-29T19:28:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Reza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reza)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/1 "2011-08-29T19:28:40Z")
This is not the case for the wolves; they do attack one another when they are extremely hungry, but not lions. Why? Can you think of any examples of humans’ behavior which resembles the two above mentioned manner? ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/2 "2011-08-29T19:34:54Z")
What about two hungry lions from different prides who meet? Do they fight to the death for survival, or only over the female, or neither? ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/3 "2011-08-29T19:42:28Z")
I think they just prefer not to hunt things that have enormous sharp teeth and claws, so that they don’t get all toothed and clawed up. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/4 "2011-08-29T20:15:56Z")
Also I bet they’s nasty eatin’. Predators generally are. ---
**Author:** ![Brandus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Brandus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brandus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/5 "2011-08-29T20:23:28Z")
Lions routinely “kill” eachother all the time in territory or dominance fights. But it doesn’t make any sense to hunt a lion for food when a random zebra has more meat for less effort. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/6 "2011-08-29T20:29:45Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > I think they just prefer not to hunt things that have enormous sharp teeth and claws, so that they don’t get all toothed and clawed up. Bingo. Large predators tend to avoid other large predators, except in extreme circumstances. Even if it’s likely they’d prevail, broken bones, infections and other nastiness make it an unappealing endeavor. Better not to win and then die from the experience later anyway. Pick on something not as likely to inflict injury. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/7 "2011-08-29T22:19:46Z")
> [@Brandus](#): > > Lions routinely “kill” eachother all the time in territory or dominance fights. The way you wrote this makes it look like they only figuratively kill each other. Lionesses are pack hunters, aren’t they? Could a group of them easily take down a solitary lion? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/8 "2011-08-29T22:30:50Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Also I bet they’s nasty eatin’. Predators generally are. It doesn’t sound _that_ bad: > [@Website selling weird exotic meats - is this for real?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-selling-weird-exotic-meats-is-this-for-real/522377/26): > > I’ve had Lion there. Tastes about like venison. And it’s kinda tough, despite having been pounded pretty good back in the kitchen. People do eat predators; it’s something of a myth that they are bad eating. They are just economically/ecologically bad choices for food. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/9 "2011-08-30T14:37:44Z")
Bear meat sells for a hundred bucks per kilo at high-end butcheries around here and is extremely yummy. The rare folks who have eaten lynx have praised the meat to high heavens; fox is also reportedly a delicacy, as long as diners are not informed of the species. Cats are eaten in many locales all over the world (it was one of the staples of some late-historic Australian Aborigines) with gusto etc. Predators being nasty eating is indeed a myth. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/10 "2011-08-30T14:43:22Z")
> [@Reza](#): > > This is not the case for the wolves; they do attack one another when they are extremely hungry, but not lions. Why? > > Can you think of any examples of humans’ behavior which resembles the two above mentioned manner? Who says they don’t if they get hungry enough? Also, do you know what a male does when he manages to take over an existing pride? And the second part of your post makes me think you are more interested in metaphorical lions and wolves than zoological ones. ---
**Author:** ![Reza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Reza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reza)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/11 "2011-08-31T23:57:27Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Who says they don’t if they get hungry enough? Also, do you know what a male does when he manages to take over an existing pride? Ethologists. > [@](#): > > And the second part of your post makes me think you are more interested in metaphorical lions and wolves than zoological ones. Somehow. wolves example is rife in society; greedy people who would rip off peers. But, I’m wondering about lions one. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/12 "2011-09-02T20:16:19Z")
A male lion intent on taking over another male’s pride will not only kill the papa, but the cubs, too. Observers say the usurper wants to defend his own bloodline. I wonder, though, how do they know what a lion’s motivation is? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/13 "2011-09-02T20:24:13Z")
Why do wolves do it then if there are so many reasons against it? Or do they actually hunt each other – I had never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Reza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Reza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reza)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/14 "2011-09-03T02:09:12Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Why do wolves do it then if there are so many reasons against it? Or do they actually hunt each other – I had never heard of it. There’s no tough stuff to understand it, wolves simply attack each other once they’ve not found any prey and they are extremely hungry. This is a general knowledge = Hungry wolves sleep in a way which they see one anther’s face, in order to be protected against each other. I stress when they are hungry! ---
**Author:** ![Reza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Reza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reza)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/15 "2011-09-03T02:16:53Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > A male lion intent on taking over another male’s pride will not only kill the papa, but the cubs, too. Observers say the usurper wants to defend his own bloodline. I wonder, though, how do they know what a lion’s motivation is? Thanks, good point. I didn’t know that. But the case here is different from what I meant in my question. In your example which is very good and informative, the intention is power and pride and all that stuff, but in my question hunting is meant for food. Remember, even a human being will eat another man under circumstances. And, my questions is that why lions don’t do this? Or They may do and I don’t know. I’m just asking. I read it somewhere that “Lions don’t hunt other lions” and in that context which I was reading “hunt” meant for food for survival ! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/16 "2011-09-03T02:44:31Z")
Carnivore meat doesn;t taste as good as herbivore meat and it usually comes with all those nasty sharp bits. Mind you, as you said- when starvation comes around, all the “rules” go out the window. But normally mammal carnivores don’t hunt other mammal carnivores for food. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/17 "2011-09-03T03:05:02Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Also I bet they’s nasty eatin’. Predators generally are. Jared Diamond of “Guns, Germs and Steel” says that lion meat is quite tasty. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/18 "2011-09-03T06:08:31Z")
My dad- who grew up in Alaska with the natives- sez that bear- when on a salmon or caribu diet was nasty. But that bear during berry season was very tasty indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Reza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Reza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reza)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/19 "2011-09-03T09:21:30Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Carnivore meat doesn;t taste as good as herbivore meat and it usually comes with all those nasty sharp bits. > > Mind you, as you said- when starvation comes around, all the “rules” go out the window. But normally mammal carnivores don’t hunt other mammal carnivores for food. that’s the question part of the case; wolves are mammal, aren’t they? They do but lions don’t. Thanks for your time. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534/20 "2011-09-03T11:11:10Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > Cats are eaten in many locales all over the world (it was one of the staples of some late-historic Australian Aborigines) with gusto etc. Predators being nasty eating is indeed a myth. What cats would they have eaten? They are an introduced animal AFAIK. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-lions-hunt-other-lions/594534.md?page=2)