Why lions form groups: food is not enough

Testing the long-held idea that lions live in groups to hunt large prey more efficiently, this study compared the per-capita food intake of females in groups of different sizes. The data showed that solitary females and very large groups often did as well as or better than intermediate groups on a per-capita basis, so foraging benefits alone cannot explain grouping. The authors argued that territory defense, protection of cubs against infanticidal males, and competition with neighboring prides are the decisive forces favoring sociality. The paper reframed lion group living as primarily a response to social competition rather than cooperative foraging, an influential conclusion that shifted carnivore behavioral ecology toward considering defense and kin selection as central drivers of group formation in an otherwise solitary lineage.