Lions who wander the expanse of the savannah need to keep in communication with each other when the pride is not together. This ability to stay in constant communication is what both makes a pride strong and keeps it safe as the territory for the pride expands and hunting grounds are established.
But how do lions communicate across the savannah? Very simply, it is the use of their roars. While not the loudest of all the animals in the animal kingdom, with elephants, blue whales, and even howler monkeys being able to communicate with one another at higher decibels, lions have been known to have their roars travel miles to keep in touch with one another. Because of this, a pride of lions can go their own way for days or weeks, and return to one another when needed, simply with a mighty roar across the landscape.
Why Lions Roar
Lions roar as a way of communicating within the pride and to other rogue lions.
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Just like all animals, lions have a distinct way of communicating with one another. Much of this communication is vocal, especially through roaring. But lions do not just roar for roaring’s sake. They do so for various reasons that vary from being social to warning of danger.
The main reason that lions roar is for communication. By roaring at different volumes, lions can identify themselves to one another. This happens because each lion has a unique roar. Lions can also inform the pride of food sources and coordinate hunts, as well as alert one another of danger with a simple roar.
Additionally, lions use roaring for social purposes. The massive roars allow the pride to separate to find food and water sources miles away from one another. Then, when the roar is sounded, they can easily find one another and reunite after days apart.
Finally, male lions in particular use their roars to let other male lions know that they will face a standoff or worse if they encroach on their territory. While this does not always stop other males from trying to take over a pride, in many instances, it is enough to stop younger male lions in their tracks who may have accidentally wandered into a pride’s territory unknowingly. Given the variety of roars, it makes sense that each one—differing in duration, volume, and tone—conveys a different meaning.
Each Lion Roar Has A Different Meaning
Lions roar for a multitude of reasons that vary from warning the pride of danger to females calling to their cubs to return to the pride.
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Lions do not roar just to have themselves be heard. Instead, each of the roars that a lion makes is done for distinct reasons. This is why there are different roars and even different volumes at which these roars are made, all of which signal the intentions of the lion. There are several different types of roars that lions make. The most common of those roars include:
|
Type Of Roar |
Meaning Behind The Roar |
|
Alarm Roar |
One of the loudest roars, the male lions make this roar when there is another lion in the vicinity that is not part of the pride. The roar can also be used to warn of a threat in the area. |
|
Contact Roar |
This roar is used when the pride has separated for any number of reasons. It helps to bring the pride back together through the use of short, repetitive roaring sounds. |
|
Maternal Roar |
One of the quietest roars, female lions use this roar to call their cubs back to the pride when they may have wandered off a bit too far. |
|
Mating Roar |
Female lions use this roar to call to male lions in the area to let them know they are receptive to taking a mate. This roar tends to be deeper than most roars lionesses make. |
|
Threatening Roar |
One of the loudest roars, the male lions will make this roar when there is another lion in the vicinity that is not part of the pride. The roar can also be used to warn of a threat in the area. |
Roaring enables lions to communicate with each other both when they are near and when they are far apart. Because of this, most lions within a pride can keep in constant communication with each other, even if miles apart.
How Far Away Lions Can Hear Communication
Male lions can create a roar so loud that it has the capability of traveling up to five miles across the savannah in the right conditions.
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Lions can control just how loud or soft their roars are. Some frequencies are both too low and too high for people to hear. On average, however, people can hear a lion’s roar. The frequency at which a lion can roar is up to 114 decibels, whereas the everyday human conversation is approximately 60 decibels. This noise level is the equivalent of the sound of a jet engine. People who are exposed to this level of decibels for any sustained time will suffer irreversible hearing damage.
Not only is the roar capable of being so loud, but it can also be sustained up to 40 seconds by a male lion. This is why the roar can be heard up to “five miles away” by other lions. Some factors allow or preclude the roar from traveling long distances, however. Those factors include:
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Weather
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Other noises in the environment
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Physical features in the terrain
While female lions cannot roar as loudly or have their sounds carry as far as male lions, they are still capable of having their roars travel a few miles.
By having the ability to make their roars so loud, according to Environmental Literacy Council, lions can communicate with other lions in their pride, keeping them in touch with one another if they separate, helping to coordinate hunting strategies, and even letting rogue lions know they have wandered into another pride’s territory. But these loud roars are not the only ways that lions communicate with one another. Lions also use many non-vocal methods to make their intentions known.
Other Ways Lions Communicate With Each Other
Lions not only roar to communicate with one another, but they also use a variety of other sounds and body language to communicate.
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While roaring is a common way that lions communicate with each other, they also use different methods of communication to inform both those in their pride and other lions of their status. Some of these communication techniques are vocal, while others are silent. Ways that lions communicate with one another that do not include roaring are:
|
Method Of Communication |
Explanation Of Communication |
|
Purring, huffing, humming, snarling |
Each sound expresses a different emotion to other members of the pride or to rogue lions |
|
Ears pushed back, hair on end, tail moving rapidly |
All signs there is danger in the area that lions can express to the pride without any sound being made |
|
Rubbing on trees and boulders, sporadic urination |
Ways of marking an area to not only let other lions in the area know whose territory they are walking into, but also the status of the lion as well. |
Thanks to all of these ways lions can communicate, there is no guessing what a lion is trying to say. All lions, both in the pride and those on the periphery, understand what other lions are saying, both verbally and non-verbally. Lions that ignore these signals may face confrontation, at which point the previously ignored communication will become unmistakable.
The post How Lions Communicate Across Miles Using Their Powerful Roars appeared first on A-Z Animals.
