This includes deer along with gazelles, zebras, buffalo, and even larger animals like rhinos, elephants, and hippopotamus.ĭeer are a preferred prey of lions as they are easier to hunt. Lions (as we’ve previously covered) are apex predators that will eat anything they can catch, and this includes deer.Ī lion’s favored prey are ungulates, which is the scientific term for hooved, herbivorous mammals. Let’s start by getting this out of the way now – yes, lions will kill and eat deer. So let’s jump right in! Do Lions Actually Eat Deer?

This guide will take you through everything you need to know about where deer lie in a lion’s food chain, from whether lions eat deer to the ways lions hunt them. So where do deer fit into this, and will lions eat them? Don’t worry, because this article has all the answers you need! Lions are apex predators and entirely carnivorous, meaning that they will eat pretty much any prey that they can catch and kill. Licking their forelimbs may also serve a thermoregulatory function-forelimbs are highly vascular and licking may help cool the blood.Here, they hunt all types of prey – including herbivores like zebras, gazelle, and buffalo – and scavenge meat from carrion and other found prey. They further avoid heat stress by being active mostly at night, resting on top of kopjes or up trees to take advantage of cool breezes, and lying on their back to expose their thin-skinned stomachs. In open areas, one lion may try to rest in the shade of another or even in the shade of a parked vehicle. Thus they usually rest in the shade and shift position throughout the day to avoid direct sunlight. Lions mostly thermoregulate by simple heat exchange across the skin barrier, but will start panting after exertion, eating a large meal or exposure to direct sunlight. Lions live in warm climates and have to cope with the heat. Note how the mother follows as the cubs swim back to shore, ready to intercede if anything goes wrong. A mother encouraged her small cubs to join the feast, but her cubs were initially reluctant before finally taking the plunge. Lions only rarely venture into the water.These lions discovered a drowned wildebeest, and one female dragged it to a small island. Lions have distensible stomachs that can hold large quantities and resting is a good way to make each meal last longer-which may be another way of saying that laziness is part of their behavioral profile. Third, hunting success is low and scavenging is unpredictable, so lions may only eat once every two or three days. Thus lions have a greater need to stay cool. With all that muscle, they generate an enormous amount of metabolic heat-even just walking across an open plain can leave them panting. They have remarkable acceleration and are able to wrestle down powerful prey such as zebra and buffalo.

Second, lions are more heavily built than other carnivores.

Thus lions are inherently more patient than other species. Are lions as lazy as they seem?įirst, unlike “cursorial predators” such as wild dogs and hyenas that actively seek out prey then chase them down, lions are “ambush predators” that lie in wait at spots where prey are most likely to pass. Lions spend more time asleep than any other animal in Africa. Itasca Biological Station and Laboratories.Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics.

Lions eating prey alive