Question: What is a group of lions called? 

A group mostly made up of female lionesses and their cubs is a pride, while a group made up of only male lions is called a coalition. 

Let’s take a look at the difference between a pride and a coalition before taking a look at the structural differences between an African pride and an Asiatic pride. 

What Is a Pride? 

A pride consists of a group of mostly female lionesses. In that pride, there will most often be around 20 members, including a dozen or so female lionesses and their cubs, as well as around two to three males. Although a pride of up to 40 lions has been observed in the wild! 

The pride comprises specific roles performed by members of that group. Lionesses, for instance, are in charge of hunting and caring for their cubs. The female lionesses are typically related to one another and they don’t tend to allow outsiders in. And unlike the male cub, the female cub will also stay with the pride as they grow and reach adulthood and prepare for their role as hunter and mother.

Adult males are responsible for protecting the pride’s territory and will attack any animal who poses a threat. The young male, however, will typically leave their pride around age two or three to attempt to take over another male’s pride. 

What Is a Coalition? 

When a small group of male lions bands together, they form what is referred to as a coalition. 

There is a moment in a male lion’s life, usually, once they start exhibiting signs of adulthood and increasingly aggressive toward younger males, that it’s time to leave the pride. In other words, they are no longer welcome within the pride. However, traveling alone can be extremely difficult that’s why males who leave their pride may band together to form what we now know as a coalition. This group of males will protect and learn from each other as well as form a strong bond. 

Male lions as young as three years old will leave their pride, but from the moment they step away from the comfort and protection of the home, it’s anyone’s game. Unfortunately, if the young male hasn’t formed a coalition, they run the risk of attack by surrounding coalitions, usually consisting of around four to five male lions. Due to the dense population of lions in the sub-Saharan desert the likelihood of taking a wrong step dramatically increases. 

Another challenge is the very real threat of starvation. In the pride, the female lioness would hunt for food and although the young male lion does know how to hunt (having usually joined hunting ventures) they’re completely self-reliant on their own hunting prowess now and this is a challenge within itself. One of the major challenges, then, is accidentally crossing into another male lion’s territory who is also hunting for food. This can result in a vicious attack and may even lead to death. 

If they manage to survive, the young male lion will have to seek food in sparsely populated areas, including cattle on the perimeters of national parks, which is a common occurrence in neighboring villages on the outskirts of Gir National Park. 

African versus Asiatic Lions

On average, the African lion pride will consist of around two to three males, five to ten females, and their cubs. This number can vary and fluctuate as males leave and cubs are born, etc. On the other hand, Asiatic lions divide themselves into gender-specific groups and tend not to interact with the opposite sex except for the purposes of mating. Female Asiatic lions are far more social than the male and can belong to a pride of up to four to six female adults.

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