Do lions have prey preference?
Lions hunt opportunistically and will eat anything from aardvark to zebra and birds to elephants. However, there does seem to be some cultural transmission of hunting skills. Some prides have learned to be particularly effective at bring down giraffes while others have not acquired that skill. In our study area we have only one pride that kills baboons, though baboons are present in all pride territories. Nevertheless less we find that impala are the most frequent prey species in the diet of all our study prides – they are also the most common ungulate in the area.
