Thanksgiving 2010: How Lions Celebrate Family Values (PHOTOS)

From BBC Earth's Arj Singh:

It's all about family, friends and food at Thanksgiving, catching up with your loved ones over a delicious feast.

But for lions that's a more regular occurrence. Living in large 'families,' or prides, and eating together is part of the most social big cats' day-to-day lives.

We've pulled together an image gallery of lions eating and living in family groups as a present for you this Thanksgiving.

On our Facebook page you can see tons more exclusive videos and images, as well as enter competitions to win DVDs and see your photos featured on our Life Is website.

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Turkey is usually the dish of the day at Thanksgiving. But lions have a diverse taste for meat at a family dinner, licking their lips at the sight of wildebeest, zebras, buffalos and a lot more. Some have been known to hunt giraffes in Kruger National Park, South Africa.

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Turkey is usually the dish of the day at Thanksgiving. But lions have a diverse taste for meat at a family dinner, licking their lips at the sight of wildebeest, zebras, buffalos and a lot more. Some have been known to hunt giraffes in Kruger National Park, South Africa.

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Total comments: 41 | Post a Comment

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These Lions

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Scar From "The Lion King" Is Better This Pride Should Be Proud

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Comments

[Curt H]

06:32 PM on 11/26/2010

Have the determined if Hate is one of the family values of the lions?

[LI2US]

10:58 AM on 11/26/2010

Yes, let's anthropomorphize lions now. We've done it to every other four-legged creature on this planet, why not.

[Trickywoo]

09:41 AM on 11/26/2010

Simply fabulous.

[briarus42]

09:03 AM on 11/26/2010

they are thankful for lots of slow silly photographers that make a quick snack?

[henrypapillon]

08:23 AM on 11/26/2010

It just isn't TG without pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce and the Lions losing!

[StevieTheK]

08:29 AM on 11/26/2010

ha! at least this year they put up a good game for 40 minutes or so.

[henrypapillon]

11:01 AM on 11/26/2010

If only they could shorten the games to 30 minutes or so, the Lions might stand a chance.

[noob1]

01:15 AM on 11/26/2010

The lions were sitting around and were like, "Hey it's thanksgiving, let's go hunt an animal down and kill it to celebrate the holiday"

[FGSEE]

12:58 AM on 11/26/2010

To see a very contemporary presentation about the current status and the plight of lions, see "The Last Stand of the African Lion" on YouTube, here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjhj4nwGOLY
You may be surprised to learn there are so few left, and how rapidly they are vanishing.
And you will be amazed to learn about the compassion shown by one female lion to a baby Oryx antelope...

[maximumride]

12:56 AM on 11/26/2010

animal planet was showing "big cat diary" up until about 3 months ago. i wish they would put it back on. the show was replaced with the "me or the dog." i prefer the big cats.

[RButler]

12:29 AM on 11/26/2010

The  lionesses are all business while the males are so full of themselves.  Too funny.  And the youngest cubs have that 'dazzled' look in their eyes.  I just love 'em. 
 
I love watching the cubs playing with father's tail while the male liion gets irrirated like an old grouch at having to put up with it. 

[horacw]

11:02 AM on 11/26/2010

Until a new male or males chases off the old male or males. Then they kill all the cubs fathered by the old male(s) to make the females go into heat and they can start creating thier own blood line. Nature is beautiful and terrible in the simplicity in which it keeps everything moving.

[RButler]

04:01 PM on 11/26/2010

What amazes is how wasteful nature in the scene you described of new males kiiling the cubs of another male.  I guess it has to be in that species have to overproduce to survive or they won't.  That's what makes the fates of cheetahs and other species that are endangered so sad. 

[SNS]

12:25 AM on 11/26/2010

Majestic. There's no animal I'd rather get mauled by.

[abustig]

02:40 AM on 11/26/2010

LOL!

[Mabila]

01:14 PM on 12/06/2010

That's really funny! lolest

[Rohan Kumar]

12:10 AM on 11/26/2010

Male Lions hunt less. Their manes are a disadvantage during stalking.. but they get preference even in catches made by females..

Lions and Tigers do not cohabit. Their are no places where they exist in the same forest. In India Lions are in Gir (only). Gir does not have tigers. Other forests which have tigers do not have lions.

[Bhokara]

12:02 AM on 11/26/2010

I remember going on a lion walk in Zimbabwe with a guide many years ago, and we all had hiking boots on except one guy, who had sneakers on. One of the group laughed at his shoes and said, "what do you think, you're going to outrun the lion if he charges?" And the guy answered, "I don't have to outrun the lion. I just have to outrun you."

[ecotopian]

08:58 PM on 11/25/2010

This is why I love big cats. It's the same reason I love wolves. The wildness of them.

[JamesBondQuixote]

01:29 AM on 11/26/2010

same here! I get breathless and awed by EVERYTHING wild: lions, tigers, bears, polar bears, wolves, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, deer, elk, wild ducks and geese, chickadees and nuthatches, spiders, sharks, etc. etc. etc. Every one of them pure wonder. It is unbearably sad to realize that all of them losing ground and losing out to Humans.

[LeftySansPancho]

08:54 PM on 11/25/2010

I voted "10" on every single photo. Lions should kill and eat us all and take over the world. They couldn't possibly do any worse job than we've done.

Well, I'll be real. I wouldn't want to meet a lion face to face. But being killed by a lion to make their food and that of their offspring is much preferable to the slow death by strangulation of our economy proposed by Republicans/Tea Partiers.

[picard922]

08:41 PM on 11/25/2010

Somehow I don't think the author of this gallery has ever actually seen a lion and knows less about their habits than can be found in Wikipedia. Great pictures.