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A recent study has rfevealed that Lions form prides to defend territory against other lions – not to improve their hunting success.

In doing so, they act much like street gangs, gathering together to protect their turf from interlopers, says a leading lion expert.

The bigger the gang, the more successful the lions are, information that could help conserve wild lions.

The discovery helps explain why lions, uniquely among the cat species, live together in social groups.

Lions stand out amongst all the cat species for their gregarious nature.

Across Africa and Asia, lions form prides of varying sizes comprising one or more males and often numerous females and cubs.

But why they do so has remained a mystery. A long-standing idea is that female lions socialise in order to hunt cooperatively. But despite the common sight of multiple females working together to outflank and bring down large prey, there is no clear link between how many lions hunt together and their hunting success.

Another is that lions gather to protect territory. Indeed, a range of animals from social insects to primates form social groups that defend territories against competitors.

But while there has been anecdotal evidence that bigger groups have a competitive advantage, the idea has never been rigorously tested over long periods of time.

That has now changed with a study analysing the behaviour of 46 lion prides living in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

Conducted by ecologists Anna Mosser and Craig Packer of the University of Minnesota in St Paul, US, the study collated data about the prides’ behaviour over 38 years, including where they ranged, their composition and how they interacted.

Mosser’s and Packer’s key finding was that competition between lion prides significantly affects the mortality and reproductive success of female lions, they report in the journal Animal Behaviour.

Larger prides with more adult females not only produced more cubs, as might be expected, but the females within these prides were less likely to be wounded or killed by other lions.

Prides with more females were also more likely to gain control of areas disputed with neighbouring prides, and those prides that recruited lone females improved the quality of their territory.

“The most important way to think about this is that lion prides are like street gangs,” says Packer.

“They compete for turf. The bigger the gang, the more successful it is at controlling the best areas. The main difference from humans is that these are gangs of female lions.”

Both researchers think the study, alongside other work they have yet to publish, finally confirms that bigger prides form to defend territory.

“The advantage of large group size for group-territorial animals has been suspected for a long time, but had never been proven with data,” says Mosser. “With this paper, we were able to do just that because of the many groups studied over a long period.”

One surprise revealed by the research is that male lions turn out to play a much bigger role in how prides interact than expected.

Large coalitions of female lions are so successful at dominating small neighbouring prides that male lions step in to try to alter the balance of power. Males will often attack and attempt to kill female lions in neighbouring prides to tip the odds in favour of their own pride.

“Males turn out to be playing a greater role than we realised,” says Packer. “Males attack females from neighbouring prides, likely altering the balance of power in favour of ‘their’ females.”

The territorial advantages gained by coming together into larger social groups would have driven the evolution of social behaviour in lions, say the researchers.

“It also confirms a pattern that is probably applicable for many species, including group-territorial ants, birds, and chimpanzees,” says Mosser, who is now at The Jane Goodhall Institute, in Kigoma, Tanzania.

Such insights will help with the conservation of lions, the numbers of which are suspected to have fallen by at least a third across Africa over the past two decades.

The research shows that “the lions are competing for relatively scarce ‘hotspots’ of high value real estate,” says Packer.

So “lion numbers are ultimately limited by the number of hotspots that are safely inside national parks”.

Purreciouspots Bengals, who are located in Lancaster, California, have a litter of brown / black spotted bengal kittens for sale. They will be ready to go to new homes on the 23rd June. Kittens will be vaccinated, wormed etc.Further details and contact information can be found on the breeders ad.

Shore Bengals, who are based in Petersburg, New Jersey, have a litter of four brown spotted / rosetted bengal kittens for sale. They were bornon the 26th April and will be ready to go to new homes on the 05th July. Kittens will be registered with TICA, come with a health guarantee, be wormed, had 1st vaccinations etc. Full details can be found on the breeder listing.

BengalClassifieds extend a warm welcome to Doubletake Bengals who have recently started advertising with us. Doubletake are located in Hay Springs, Nebraska, and currently have a litter of brown rosetted bengal kittens for sale. They were born on the 13th April and will be ready to go to new forever homes on the 06th July. Kittens will be registered with TICA, be current on vaccinations and come with a health guarantee. See breeder advertisement on the main website for further details, photos, and contact info.

We’d like to welcome 14KaratBengals who are advertising with us for the first time this month. Located in Cottonwood, Arizona, 14Karat specialise in rich colored Bengals (goldens / reds / bronze) and Cashmeres. Kittens are available throughout the year, so check with breeder for availability. Kittens are registered, current on vaccinations & come with a health guarantee. See breeder listing on the main website for more photos, details and contact info.

” I am hoping you can help in our search for Sunny. He went missing between 02.06.2009 and 03.06.2009.

He was in Madrid, Spain awaiting transport to me at his new home in Lisbon, Portugal.

He is very loved and we want to find him, we believe he was stolen from his cat carrier whilst awaiting his flight. He was near Madrid airport in the cargo section according to the airline.

The airline and courier company are not much help. When we checked the carrier it had been tampered with. The airline are saying he may have escaped if this could be true then someone might take him to a shelter if found.

Sunny is a 7 month old, Bengal/Marble he has been neutered and micro-chipped. We have alerted all the vets in the area about this and given his micro-chip number.

Please could you look at the photo provided and perhaps help us notify anyone who might be of assistance. Perhaps if stolen someone will try and sell him.

This is not about getting a valuble piece of luggage back or an insurance claim as the airline seems to think rather a life that can never be replaced.

Any help you could assist with would be much appreciated. We are beside ourselves with worry for Sunny’s well-being.

Thanking you in advance for any help from you.

Lisa.”

Contact Lisa:   lisadolanbudd[at]gmail[dot]com

A rare white tiger has mauled to death a New Zealand zoo keeper as horrified tourists looked on, police said.

The attack occurred at the Zion Wildlife Gardens in Whangarei, some 200km (124 miles) north of Auckland.

Police said the tiger grabbed a male zoo keeper who was cleaning an enclosure and would not let go despite the efforts of other staff members.

The zoo – home to some 40 rare lions and tigers – has been closed to visitors, and the tiger destroyed.

Police said the attack was witnessed by a group of eight tourists.

The keeper was named in local media as South African Dalu Mncube who reportedly rescued one of his colleagues from an attack earlier this year.

The zoo is well known in New Zealand as the setting for a reality television programme that starred its founder Craig Busch, known as the “Lion Man”.

Mr Busch was dismissed from his post last year by his mother, who controls the zoo.

Joining us this month on BengalClassifieds is Ekambar Bengals. Ekambar are located in West Sacramento, California. They currently have a brown tri-color marble boy and a blue spotted girl for sale. They were born on the 31st March and will available to go to new homes from July 7 onwards. Kittens will be registered with TICA and will be fully vaccinated and vet checked. See breeder listing for more photos and contact details.

Advertising wwith us for the first time this month is ‘Spots Gone Wild’, who are located in Louisberg in Kansas. – They currently have a litter of two Spotted F2 females, a marble F2 female and a marble F2 male. They were born on the 01st March and are now ready to go to new homes. Kittens are eligble to be registered with TICA and they will have had their first round of vaccines before leaving. See breeder ad for further details, photos and contact info.

We’d like to welcome Ohana Bengals as new advertisers on Bengal Classifieds. Ohana are located in Westfield, Massachusetts, and currently have two male brown spotted bengal kittens for sale. They were born early February and will be available to go to new homes from May 09th onwards. Kittens will be registered with TICA and will have had their first vaccinations. See breeder listing for further details.