Gujarat: Lionesses in love leave pride sans prejudice

AHMEDABAD: Lionesses are, metaphorically speaking, swallowing their pride and looking at other groups for partners.
The Tinder of the royal beasts traditionally had just direction to swipe — towards their own pride. But for the first time, researchers have found lionesses in Gir looking for mating partners outside their social structures. This romantic foray, researchers say, boosts the chances of survival of the cubs, which end up with a lower risk of being killed by adult males of either group.
Wildlife Institute of India experts have been analyzing lion pride behaviours for over a decade.They say inter-pride mating is a recent trend.
The researchers have also documented the standard means by which male lions stake their claim on territories. Before mating, male lions designate their domain by urinating on trees or bushes (scent marking). This was the most common way of advertising the home range, followed by 72% of the lions observed. Other methods were roaring (26%), and etching trees with claws (2%).
A research paper titled “Observation of Patrolling Behaviour in Male Lions in Gir Protected Area, India” was released recently. The paper was authored by Meena Venkataraman, a wildlife biologist with the Carnivore Conservation & Research project. The paper notes that lionesses do not restrict their mating opportunities to their own prides.
“In Asiatic lions’ groups, females have compact home ranges with very little inter-pride overlap while male ranges are twice the size of females’,” states the paper. “A substantial inter-coalition overlap occurs in the core area of pride females, indicating that mating opportunities are not exclusive to a particular coalition. This is supported by observations of mating by one female with males in different coalitions.”
Cubs enjoy coalition cover
The paper titled “Observation of Patrolling Behaviour in Male Lions in Gir Protected Area, India” states that dependent cubs were killed only by transient males or males about to establish territory, suggesting a level of tolerance among adjacent coalitions.
According to the paper, adult territorial lions spent the majority of their time resting or sleeping. But nearly 63% of their active time was invested in maintaining and defending their homes.
The paper says that territory markings occurred during early morning and late evening. During a single patrol, a male lion on average marked his patch 11 times. Both partners participated in patrolling and sprayed every 160 metres. Males covered 2.5km during a single patrol. The research shows that a patrolling episode associated with scent marking lasted, on average, for over two hours.
The research reveals that sub-adult males marked only twice during the entire day before they established a home range.