Lion Communication

Today’s column requires rather more participation from you than usual, as it is simply not possible to “display” audio in stills. All videos belong and are copyrighted to their respective original owners. This time, I will give you extensive video clips liberally scattered through the article to demonstrate the various behaviours. That said, nothing comes close to hearing, for example, a lion roaring the wilderness. Some areas, like the plains of Khwai in Botswana, lend themselves to enhancing the sound, and the result is truly eerie. You get goose bumps, and it raises the hair on the back of your neck! 

If you have ever been in the wilds of Africa after dark, you will identify with the sentiment that a lion roaring from the darkness of the night is one of the most iconic sounds you can hear. It is also likely to stir something primal within you – a deep-seated understanding that, in the not-too-distant past, we were part of the food chain. And could easily go back there, given the right set of circumstances…

Last week I was once again in the Chobe National Park. After the long drought of last year, everything is now magnificently green after the rainy season. The impalas have dropped their young, and many of the migrant birds are back from the northern hemisphere. We came across four fat lionesses, lazily sauntering along the road – making the occasional half-hearted effort to hunt. At one stage, three went off in a specific direction to abuse some primates of the non-human persuasion, whilst one maintained her direction on a path she was following. Eventually, she decided to make contact with her sisters again. It was wonderful to hear her contact calls (pop onto our Facebook page to see the video)…

Communication between lions is vastly varied, and each call has a very specific meaning. They roar, grunt, moan, growl, snarl, purrs hum, puff and even woof. Combined with body language and scents, this is the way lions communicate.

Lion cubs have their own repertoire of sounds – some meaningful, some seemingly just because they can… A lion cub’s ‘bleat’ is something we are familiar with from nature documentaries. This call seems to be a contact call: 

So, either the cub is lost, or it is merely calling its mum. On the other side of this call is the lioness, looking for her cubs. Her call is the gentlest, ‘enquiring’ sound you can hear from a lion. You can literally hear the ‘where are you’ sentiment.

When a lioness has lost a club, her contact calls are heart-rending. If you watch the above clip to the end, the calls eventually just seem resigned – and beyond sad. Although we don’t ‘speak lion’, it is easy enough to interpret this lioness’s message…

Male lions have a ritual of scent marking their territory. As with all animals, this is done in order to say “this is my home” – thereby ideally avoiding conflict which can damage and even kill a lion. When lions end up fighting, it is never by chance. The aggressor has ‘read’ the signs and deliberately decided to ignore the warnings – which are both audial, as well as scent driven.

Lions have scent glands in their rear paws. Scraping the ground leaves their scent, marking their territory and communicating with other lions. This scent reveals their identity, social status, and even their reproductive status – and establishes ownership, acting as a communication method with any lions that may cross into their territory. They also spray urine on the ground. Lion also have scent glands around their chin, lips, cheeks, whiskers and will rub on grass and other foliage to mark their space. You will also notice that when a pride regroups, they rub faces (also known as ‘bunting’) – thus ‘marking’ each other as members of their pride.

Another way male lions will advertise their territories is by roaring.  The lions in the videos below are letting all and sundry know, in no uncertain terms, that this is THEIR territory and ‘do not trespass’. Their scent-marking confirms that this is a territorial display.

Lions also ‘contact call’. The purpose of this call is merely to stay in touch. In the video below, you can see the exact moment that he hears the reply from his brother.

A lion’s roar can reach an astonishing 114 decibels, and can be heard for up to eight kilometres away. Lions achieve this by forcing bursts of air through their voice box, with their huge chests acting as natural amplifiers. Their powerful diaphragm and abdominal muscles also play a role in generating such deep, resonant sounds. Contrary to expectation, lions can roar both while inhaling and exhaling, which gives their calls remarkable duration and intensity. As opposed to what is often written, lions on the hunt with serious intent are usually silent – which enables then to sneak up on their prey.

Studies have found that roars of an individual lion are distinct, identifiable and trackable. The roars of a number of different lions were analysed in the study and each individual was found to have a distinct sound ‘fingerprint’. It is apparently possible to classify roars according to an individual identity – with 91.5% accuracy. Isn’t that amazing?? This allows them to identify specific individual – either friends or foes.

The Flehmen response takes place when one lion (primarily males, occasionally by females) sniffs and smells the urine of another.  Chemicals and hormones contained in the urine elicit the Flehmen response.  The vomeronasal organ (also sometimes called the organ of Jacobson) is located above the palate. This is usually seen during courtship, where it is used by males to assess the oestrus state of females. This occurs with many different animals, including antelope.

I distinctly remember a moment when we were sitting at a waterhole in the pre-dawn bush in Savuti many years ago. We could hear a lioness contact-calling and were trying to judge the distance from us to the lioness. The common consensus was around one kilometre away – until she casually sauntered out of the bushes next to us! The moral of the story? Always be super aware of your surroundings – and never assume that you know how far away those calls are… Your life could depend on it!

Jacqui Ikin & The Cross Country Team