The Mane Attraction: Lion Social Dynamics and Hairdo's

We ain't lion. Lion prides are some of the most unique social structures among terrestrial mammals. Listen to Emily show Clara the wonderful world of Africa's most iconic animal, the purpose of manes, and some female lions whose new look shocked scientists. Palmer, Meredith S., Natalia Borrego, and Craig Packer. (2023) "Social Strategies of the African Lion." Social Strategies of Carnivorous Mammalian Predators: Hunting and Surviving as Families. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 7-45.West, P. M., and Packer, C. (2002). Sexual selection, temperature, and the lion’s mane. Science 297, 1339–1343.University of Minnesota (2024). Social Behaviour, Lion Research Center.Emily P. Mitchell, Adrian Tordiffe, Peter Caldwell, A case for ovarian transdifferentiation in six adult captive masculinized lionesses (Panthera leo) in South Africa: Pathological evidence, Theriogenology Wild, Volume 1, 2022, 100012, ISSN 2773-093X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.therwi.2022.100012Blanchard, D. Caroline. "Of lion manes and human beards: some unusual effects of the interaction between aggression and sociality." Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience 3 (2010): 945.Sogbohossou, E. A., Bauer, H., Loveridge, A., Funston, P. J., De Snoo, G. R., Sinsin, B., & De Iongh, H. H. (2014). Social structure of lions (Panthera leo) is affected by management in Pendjari Biosphere Reserve, Benin. PLoS One, 9(1), e84674.Gilfillan, G. D., McNutt, J. W., Vitale, J. D. T., Iongh, H. H., & Golabek, K. (2017). Rare observation of the existence and masculine behaviour of maned lionesses in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. African Journal of Ecology, 55(3), 383–385. https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.12360