Today I will be discussing how lions communicate with each other to reduce conflict through the 5 senses, vision, hearing, scent, taste, touch and pheromones.
Sight - Vision
Lions being able to observe other lions’ body language is important in communication as it allows them to know how the other animal is generally feeling just by looking at them. If one lion wants to be left alone, it will show aggressive body language, such as flickering their tail, showing their teeth and lifting their paws, to the lion that is bothering it. This helps reduce conflict as the other lion will see the signs and leave the lion alone. This can also equate to a lion encountering another lion from a different pride, subtle body language could result in a peaceful passing or a fight to the death.
Hearing
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If a lion would try to let another lion know that it is displeased with the situation, it would growl to give the other lion a warning to stay away. Though speech isn’t a sense, a lion’s roar is very important. As the roar is a method of communication, allowing it to serve notice about territory, speak to other members of the pride and act as a show of aggression to other lions. A female lion can discern the difference between a male’s roar, allowing her to avoid males that may harm her cubs.
Scent
Olfactory communication between lions is well developed. Anal sniffing is common when greeting, and males often smell females in heat to assess status. Pride males spend a lot of time spraying urine to let others know where their territory is and where the boundaries are. Each pride has its own particular smell, which comes from a mixture of smells of each member of the pride. They would do this by rubbing each others necks and heads so they can recognise each other by scent.