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Roaring
The many sounds of a lion
Lions have a large repertoire of calls. They grunt, growl, moan, hiss and snarl - but of course the most famous call of all is their roar. It’s often called the sound of Africa!
Interestingly, the structure of their voice box which enables them to roar means they cannot purr. This distinguishes them as one of the ‘great cats’, alongside tigers, leopards and jaguars, while smaller big cats like cheetahs can purr but cannot roar.
What is roaring?
The lion roar is composed of a series of loud, low-pitched calls with a fairly regular structure, consisting of a single call followed by a series. A typical lion roar lasts about 60 seconds reaching its climax at around halfway.
The sound is almost as loud as thunder and resonates up to 8km away in open plains and about 3km in wooded areas. The hearing of lions is superior to that of humans, meaning they can hear a roar up to 10km in open savannas.
Who roars?
Both male and female lions roar, but the sound of a male’s roar resonates at a lower frequency and reaches further. Lions usually start roaring at around 2 years old. The roar of a juvenile is not nearly as impressive as the roar of an adult pride male, but they are not in charge of defending the territory so have plenty of time to practice!
Why roar?
Male lions roar to claim territory and show their presence to potential intruders. They also avoid roaring beyond their home range boundary to avoid unwanted attacks. Lions are social cats living in prides and to do so successfully, they need to effectively communicate with the pride members. They use different noises ranging from a soft rumble to indicate their satisfaction to ferocious roars when they are threatening other lions. Studies of roaring have even suggested that lions can effectively count: they listen closely to the number and types of roars to decide whether they should confront intruders, back away, or try to take over a pride.
Snarling
Male lions roar to claim territory and show their presence to potential intruders. They also avoid roaring beyond their home range boundary to avoid unwanted attacks. Lions are social cats living in prides and to do so successfully, they need to effectively communicate with the pride members. They use different noises ranging from a soft rumble to indicate their satisfaction to ferocious roars when they are threatening other lions. Studies of roaring have even suggested that lions can effectively count: they listen closely to the number and types of roars to decide whether they should confront intruders, back away, or try to take over a pride.
Six Key Factors that Make Successful
Human-Lion Coexistence Possible
Lions are under serious threat, with their numbers dropping by over 40% in around 20 years. One of the main threats to them is conflict with local people, as lions and other carnivores can impose significant costs on local people, and often offer few tangible local benefits. Lion Landscapes works to facilitate human-lion coexistence by reducing the costs and increasing the benefits of large carnivore presence to people in four of the most important landscapes for lion conservation left in the world today. Here we share six of the most important factors that allow lions to coexist with people.
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