Study
Adaptations of Female Lions to Infanticide by Incoming Males
Packer, Craig; Pusey, Anne E.
The American Naturalist, 1983
Pride takeovers by new male coalitions were observed and the fate of resident cubs recorded, alongside female reproductive behaviour before, during and after takeover.
- Studied in
- Panthera leo
- Sample size
- pride takeovers and subsequent cub survival, followed across years
Incoming males kill unweaned cubs, which returns females to reproductive condition sooner. Females respond in several ways: they synchronise births within the pride so that cubs are of similar age and can be defended collectively, they form crèches in which females nurse each other's cubs, and they mate with incoming males during periods when conception is unlikely.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Female lion reproductive behaviour includes specific counter-adaptations to male infanticide, and the synchrony and communal rearing characteristic of prides are among them.
How NatureHQ reads it
Infanticide is the part of lion biology that documentaries skirt, and leaving it out makes the rest incomprehensible. Birth synchrony, communal nursing and the extraordinary defensive coordination of related females are not general sociability — they are answers to a specific threat that arrives every two to three years when a new coalition takes over. A benign account of pride life that omits this has removed the thing the pride is organised around.
- Observational; the counter-adaptations are inferred from their fit to the threat rather than experimentally demonstrated.
- Takeovers are relatively infrequent events, so sample sizes accumulate slowly.
- One population.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: University press journalsPublished in a university press journal.
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref on 2026-08-11.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-11.