Witness the Roaring Rage of a Lion Pride as They Turn on One of Their Own

Key Points

• Lions often don’t devour, hunt, or slaughter other lions.
• Males will frequently battle over dominance in a pride and if the pride male is challenged, he will assert his superiority to protect his position in the pride.
• Males will even fight to the death in order to prevent a pride takeover.

Lions are majestic cats that many consider the kings and queens of the jungle. Whether it’s due to their unbeatable hunting techniques, unique pride dynamic, or the way they train their young, lions have kept us intrigued for decades.

A video circling on TikTok shows a strange interaction between a lion pride and a single lioness. The scene starts with the lioness seemingly resting on the shore of a body of water. Judging by how she acts the rest of the video, we think this big cat may be sick or have an injury. 

A pride of lions surrounds her and makes multiple leaps toward the lone cat. If you look at the male lion, he looks rather skinny, appearing almost starving. Several times the cats attempt to attack one of their own, leading the lioness to run from her resting spot. 

Do Lions Eat Each Other?

Lions often don’t devour, hunt, or slaughter other lions. Only in dire circumstances, such as when there is major food scarcity, will they consume one of their own. Even then, only the eldest lion in the tribe may be killed. 

The deaths of lions are due to a variety of factors. But after they pass away, other lions may or may not eat their carcasses.  Lion meat is less nutrient-dense than that of herbivores. Depending on the accessibility of food and how hungry they are, they might eat a dead lion.

How Does a Lion Pride Work?

These beautiful animals are renowned for their devotion to family. A lion pride is rarely biologically related to one another. If a male lion thinks his relative might end up as a rival, he may exclude them from the pride. 

After that, the adult male lion must establish his own pride. They accomplish this by taking over a different pride. This often involves an adult male lion killing the male cubs of a pride he plans on taking as his own. 

When approaching smaller prey, lions hit the back of the animal at its limbs or haunch with their paw to throw it off balance. Lions also will bite down on an animal and bring it to the ground. If the cat bites an animal’s neck, it usually results in the animal’s swift death.

We can see the lions attack one of their own in this video using some of the same tactics they use when killing prey. Although we don’t have context around what happens after the footage ends, we can only hope it was a mere dispute and all of the lions are okay. 

Is it Normal Behavior for Lions to Fight Each Other?

It is quite common to see lions fighting each other. As they are highly territorial animals, they are often in competition for areas of land and resources, especially food which is when they are extremely aggressive. Males will frequently battle over dominance in a pride and if the pride male is challenged, he will assert his superiority to protect his position in the pride. Males will even fight to the death in order to prevent a pride takeover.

Females will wage battles for different reasons. They most often will fight to protect their young cubs and will also fight to the death in order to keep their cubs safe.

Check Out the Full Video in the Link Below!

Watch the footage here. 

How Large Do Adult Lions Get?

Like many creatures in the animal kingdom, the lion males are larger than the females. Males are commonly 5.6 and 8.3 feet in length and have weights that range between 330 to 570. Females are frequently 4.6 and 5.7 feet, with weights ranging between 270 to 440 pounds.