Baby Lion Pictures

Adult lions spend 20 to 21 hours each day resting to conserve their energy for hunting, so don't provide great photo opportunities unless you're lucky enough to see them stalking, or on a kill.

But baby lions are a different story and should you come across a lion pride plus cubs when on safari, keep that camera at the ready.

There will often be more than one baby lion in a litter (usually two to three cubs per litter), meaning they have siblings to romp with. Females in the pride will also often conceive and have babies at more or less the same time (known as reproductive synchrony).

The lionesses can then care for the "nursery" of cubs communally, meaning you could have a bunch of baby lion cubs to photograph, although I've never personally been that lucky on an Afrcan safari.

Lions are efficient predators that kill and feed on mammals like antelope, wildebeest, zebras, and even larger animals like giraffe and buffalo. To get within range of their prey, lions rely mainly on stalking and will seldom charge unless within 30 yards of the victim.

Hunting Techniques
When hunting larger animals, a lion usually attacks at an oblique angle before leaping and throwing one paw over the shoulder or rump and then using its weight and strength to pull down the quarry.

So if you find two or more lion cubs within a pride, it's fascinating watching them at play as they'll often be mimicking this attack behavior, stalking and grappling with each other as they instinctively learn how to bring down prey.

But not only is this intriguing to watch, it also offers great opportunities to capture action pictures of baby lions as they grapple and wrestle. The cubs will also be seen clambering over their mothers or other lionesses in the pride as they try to get the dozing adults to join them in play.

The adult females are amazingly tolerant of this behavior and will allow themselves to be pawed and prodded by the cubs and, instead of becoming impatient, will nuzzle and lick the cubs affectionately.

For more information on lions and lion cubs, try the search box below, left.

Return to top of Baby Lion Pictures