Lions are the only truly social cats and normally live in a group, called a pride, of as many as 30 individuals. A typical pride has two or three adult males, five to ten adult females, and a number of cubs.

During the day lions commonly rest in the forest, in tall grass, or even in the open veldt (plain); some choose the fork or limb of a tree. Lions are usually quite active at night and do most of their hunting then. They have excellent night vision, and keen senses of smell and hearing. Lions establish territories and mark the boundaries by urinating on bushes and trees.

Most wild cats spend nearly their whole lives on their own—but not lions. Lions spend most of their lives in groups called prides. A pride may include as many as seven adult males and many more females and cubs—up to 40 lions in all.

The lionesses, or female lions, of a pride are usually related to each other. And they generally stay with a pride their entire lives. Males do not stay their entire lives. But they may remain for several years. In time, they leave to join a new pride, or other males drive them off. Young males that leave a pride may spend a few years wandering together until they are strong enough to lead their own pride.

A pride’s territory usually covers around 80 square miles (210 square kilometers). A pride chooses its territory based on the availability of two things: prey and water. Lions mark their territory by urinating on trees and shrubs around its border. The scent of these markings tells other lions to keep out.

What a lion does depends mostly on whether it is a male or a female. The adult males are responsible for defending the pride’s territory against intruders. If the male lions are to remain the leaders of the pride, they must be able to drive off other groups of males that try to take over. Large males will often drive away hyenas, jackals, or other animals that wander into their territory, too.

While male lions defend the territory, females do most of the hunting. In order for a pride to survive, its lionesses must be skilled hunters. But both males and females guard any leftovers from a kill. And they both spend up to 20 hours a day resting or sleeping.

Lions roar to announce their territory to other lions. These calls warn other lions to stay away. Lions can roar so loudly that they can be heard up to 5 miles (8 kilometers) away. Any animal that hears the roar knows that lions are nearby.

Lions do most of their roaring at the beginning and ending of their day. They also often roar after hunting. Sometimes, one pride will hear the roars of another pride. Lions in the first pride will answer with roars of their own.