Quora is a question-and-answer platform where social media users can ask questions on a variety of topics. Other users can answer them. Recently, one of the users posed a question about whether lions kill and eat their cubs or not. As per the social media users, there can be two different scenarios when it comes to this question. Yes, there are many instances when a male lion eats the baby lion, that is a cub, but it is not a regular phenomenon. The lions only eat their cubs when they find them dead. There is another exception to this case. They do so only when they are extremely hungry and no other food is available for them.
Now, the question arises as to why the lions eat their dead cubs. It is because they want to avoid the spread of the foul smell arising from the dead cub’s carcass. Not only the male lions, but in some instances, even the lionesses kill their cub and eat it. They do it only when the cub gets injured, suffers from any health ailment and dies. Many clips depicting these instances have gone viral on social media. The female lion also attempts to revive the cub before consuming it.
Many users also want to know about the fact that the female lions eat their male counterparts. The answer to this question is that female lions do not usually eat male lions. They sometimes fight with each other as well, but the male lions rarely die in a fight with the lionesses.
As per reports, hyper-carnivores like lions eat mostly meat, with their prey consisting of herbivores like buffalo and zebras. Even though they are expert hunters, lions rarely consume other lions when out on the hunt. Rarely, though, in cases like acute food shortages, they would turn to scavenging, which includes eating the carcass of a dead lion. To meet their nutritional demands, adult lions typically need to consume about 7 kg of meat per day. Throughout 24 hours, the lions usually spend 50 minutes eating, frequently overindulging after a good hunt.
Comments
0 comment