Lions hunting behaviors and skills at night in savannah parks in Uganda; Lions in general choose to hunt by night, due to these factors : The weather is cooler from dusk, all night and until dawn and creating much more bearable conditions for physical activity, and it means lions use up much less energy when hunting at night, than when hunting in the searing heat of the intense African sun.
With Mirama hills safaris we are welcoming you to the Uganda’s national park to see the king of the jungle which spend most of life sleeping, in fact, Lions sleep for long hours 16 to 20 hours to preserve their energy for hunting both big and small prey in the coming hours.
In Uganda lions are mainly found in the three largest savannah parks; these includes Murchison Falls national park, Queen Elizabeth national park and in Kidepo valley national park of which all of these parks you can go for a night game drive with a chance of seeing these big cats hunting or with fresh kill during night because they are nocturnal animal
When they have killed something, there is a hierarchy that comes into play, where the more dominant lions will feed on the kill first. So in all cases, the male lions will feed first, as they always dominate over all the females because they are bigger, and are more dominant. They also tend to hide in thickets often sitting in hunched position with their backs in the direction from which the rain is coming.
When you are top predator you have the right to hunt whenever you feel like it which is why it varies from pride to pride. Early morning is a favorite time for many prides so they can eat and then sleep all day.
Lion prides are generally known as nocturnal hunters, primarily hunting during the night or in the early morning and late afternoon. This behavior helps them avoid the heat of the day and reduces competition with other predators. However, there are some exceptions based on environmental factors, prey availability, and specific pride behaviors.
When they hunt depends on the weather/wind speed (they can locate prey better in windy conditions), on their hunger level, the availability of prey, the presence of competition (such as other lion prides nearby or leopards around or hyenas lurking which could steal their prey), and so on. They are opportunistic hunters.
One of the perks with being top predator is that it gives you the right to hunt during the day should you choose to. Most observers believe the preferred time is the early morning just as it is getting light. This is the time that prey animals tend to be at their most tired having had their senses on maximum overdrive to survive the darkness of the night.
If the lions can make a decent kill early in the day it sets them up well for the day and they can just sleep through the hot afternoon. This is not by any means a hard and fast rule, just what has been reported.
The pupils of lions are large and round. Round pupils capture more light than slit pupils, which improve focus but at the cost of lesser overall vision. For this reason, slit pupils are mainly seen in small ambush predators, such as serval cats or the genet, while larger carnivores will exhibit round pupils. Most prey species, on the other hand, have rectangular pupils, giving them panoramic vision and allowing them to look out for danger from almost all directions.
In low-light conditions, the pupil dilates so more light can reach the retina and improve the lion’s night vision. Retinas are made up of rod cells and cone cells: the rod cells aid the reflection of more light into the eye, while cone cells are for colour vision. When compared to humans, lions have significantly more rod cells than cone cells (25:1 versus 4:1), resulting in their impressive nocturnal vision and allowing them to see 6 to 8 times better than humans in low light conditions.
Like most their nocturnal animals, lions have something inside their eye known as rectum. This is a reflective layer of cells behind the retina, which acts as a mirror and gives the rod cells a second chance to absorb light waves. This almost doubles the effectiveness of their night vision, as is the reason for the eerie ‘eye shine’ that you see when you shine a light on animals at night!
To help reflect even more light back into the eye, lions have a white patch of fur below their eyes. This feature is a good indication that lions are nocturnal: if you look at a cheetah, you will notice they instead have black tear-like markings. This reduces glare, which is ideal as cheetahs tend to hunt during daylight.
The main threats are retaliatory or pre-emptive killing of lions to protect people and livestock; and decreasing natural prey populations and habitat (for example, due to expanding human settlements, agriculture and poaching of antelope for wild meat consumption).
When their natural prey is scarce, lions can cause grave losses to livestock, which can massively reduce the income of local people.
Climate change is another increasing threat extreme weather may cause more droughts or delay the rains, affecting lions’ prey.
They’re also killed for the illegal wildlife trade. In recent years, the demand for lion bone as a substitute for tiger bone in traditional Asian medicine has risen.
Lions do most of their hunting at night because their eyes have adapted to the dark and this gives them a huge advantage over their prey. Though lions also hunt during storms, the noise rain and too much wind make it harder for prey to see and hear them
When lions hunting most especially at night, lionesses have specific roles, some play the role of centre and others do wing role, by the wings roles is to chase the prey towards the centre for successful hunt.
In areas where prey is more active during the day, or where there is less human disturbance, some lion prides may adapt to hunt during daylight hours. Additionally, in regions with abundant prey, lions might hunt at any time, including during the day.
Finally, the location of the eyes will also vary depending on how animals use these. Like all predators, lions have eyes pointing forward, to facilitate binocular vision. This means that there is greater overlap of the field of view of both eyes, allowing them to judge depth more effectively. This is extremely important when stalking and hunting prey. Prey species, on the other hand, have eyes on the side, therefore maximizing field of vision – essential if you’re trying to not be snuck up on and eaten!
