Unlike the solitary tigers, lions are social animals who live in family groups called prides. A pride will often hunt together, but it is the lionesses who do most of the work, and usually the killing as well. This is probably because the fully grown males are larger and not quite fast or agile enough to make a kill. Lions hunt a variety of prey, including antelope, zebra, buffalo and wildebeest. Once the prey is killed, the male leader of the pride will take over the carcass and satisfy his hunger first while the others wait their turn. How often lions eat depends on what food is available. In the wild if the pride makes a big kill it will gorge on meat and wait for several days before hunting again. At Knowsley we feed them about 4-5kg (9lb) of meat each, every day, after the park closes, although we do introduce 'starve days' in an attempt to replicate eating behaviour in the wild. When a lioness is ready to give birth to her cubs, she is put on her own in a maternity wing within the main lion house. Here she rears her cubs for three months on her own but is still in touch with the pride. This ensures that the cubs are accepted by the pride when they are released into the park. Lions are now only found in central, eastern and southern Africa and one protected reserve in north-east India. We have bred several generations of lions here at Knowsley, and the process has been helped along by introducing three new males over the last 25 years. The Asiatic lion (panthera leo persica) is found only in the Gir Forest in Gujurat, NW India. There are some 320 remaining in the wild.

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