When resting, lion socialization occurs through a number of behaviors, and the animal's expressive movements are highly developed. The most common peaceful tactile gestures are head rubbing and social licking, which have been compared with grooming in primates. Head rubbing—nuzzling one's forehead, face and neck against another lion—appears to be a form of greeting, as it is seen often after an animal has been apart from others, or after a fight or confrontation. Males tend to rub other males, while cubs and females rub females. Social licking often occurs in tandem with head rubbing; it is generally mutual and the recipient appears to express pleasure. The head and neck are the most common parts of the body licked, which may have arisen out of utility, as a lion cannot lick these areas individually.
Lions have an array of facial expressions and body postures that serve as visual gestures. Their repertoire of vocalizations is also large; variations in intensity and pitch, rather than discrete signals, appear central to communication. Lion sounds include snarling, purring, hissing, coughing, miaowing, woofing and roaring. Lions most often roar at night; the sound, which can be heard from a distance of 8 km, is used to advertise the animal's presence.
Lions are predatory carnivores who manifest two types of social organization. Some are residents, living in groups, called prides. The pride usually consists of approximately five or six related females, their cubs of both sexes, and one or two males known as a coalition who mate with the adult females. The coalition of males associated with a pride are usually two, but may increase to four and decrease again over time. Male cubs are excluded from their maternal pride when they are reaching maturity.
The second organizational behaviour is labeled, nomads, who range widely and move about sporadically, either singularly or in pairs. Pairs are more frequent among related males who have been excluded from their birth pride. Note that a lion may switch lifestyles; nomads may become residents and vice versa. Males have to go through this lifestyle and some never are able to join another pride. A female who becomes a nomad has much greater difficulty joining a new pride, as the females in a pride are related and reject most attempts by an unrelated female to join their family group.
The area a pride occupies is called a pride area, whereas that by a nomad is a range. The males associated with a pride tend to stay on the finges, patrolling their territory. Why sociality—the most pronounced in any cat species—has developed in lionesses is the subject of much debate. Increased hunting success appears an obvious reason, but this is less than sure upon examination: coordinated hunting does allow for more successful predation, but also ensures that non-hunting "cheaters" reduce per capita caloric intake. Other benefits include possible kin selection (better to share food with a related lion than with a stranger), protection of the young, maintenance of territory, and individual insurance against injury and hunger.
Lioness in a burst of speed while hunting in the SerengetiLionesses do the hunting for their pride. Lionesses hunt as a co-ordinated group and are smaller, swifter, and more agile than males. They are not encumbered by the heavy and conspicuous mane which causes overheating during exertion. There is no clear hierarchy with food except the females are likely to share with each other first and allow cubs and males to eat if the kill is large enough; males will take some of this food from cubs, but are more likely to share alongside the cubs than the lionesses. Male lions will never share food they have killed by themselves. Smaller prey is eaten at the location of the hunt, thereby being shared among the hunters, when the kill is larger it often is dragged to the pride area. There is more sharing with larger kills.
Both males and females defend the pride against intruders. Some individual lions consistently lead the defense against intruders, while others lag behind. These "laggards" are not punished by leaders. Possibly laggards provide other services to the group so that leaders forgive them. An alternative hypothesis is that there is some reward associated with being a leader who fends off intruders.[84] The male or males often defend the pride from outside males who attempt to take over the pride. Females form a stable social unit in a pride and do not tolerate outside females; membership only changes with the births and deaths of lionesses, though some females do leave and become nomadic. Subadult males on the other hand, leave the pride when they reach maturity at around 2–3 years of age.
