Do lions attack humans for no reason, or only if they are hungry?
Generally speaking, lions – and other big cats – do not see humans as prey, and will try to avoid them, whether or not they are hungry. For example, if you are on safari and are watching lions from a vehicle, they will ignore you completely. Get out of the vehicle, and they will nearly always get up and move away at once. Big cats usually only become man-eaters if they are injured in some way and are unable to catch their natural prey, and even then they must first learn that humans are easy to kill. They would of course attack to protect themselves or their young if they felt threatened, but they would give you fair warning to back off first – if a snarl and a few mock-charges didn’t do the trick, only then would they actually attack you in earnest. Aside from the obvious male/female differences, male lions are larger than females and have a thick mane of fur around the neck and shoulders. This serves to make them appear larger and more intimidating to rivals and more attractive to fe
