Research overview: lion home range size and resource dispersion

Lion territory size ranges from tens to many hundreds of square kilometers depending on prey density and water availability. This overview reviews radio-telemetry and GPS studies showing that prides in rich, prey-dense ecosystems defend small core territories anchored on river confluences and waterholes, while those in arid systems range over vast areas. It connects observed ranging to the resource dispersion hypothesis, which holds that the spatial clumping of food sets the territory size needed to feed a group and thereby influences how many individuals can share that range. The synthesis explains why pride size and territory quality are intertwined and how seasonal rainfall reshapes ranging. It gives a spatial perspective on lion sociality, complementing behavioral accounts by showing how the landscape itself constrains where and how prides live.