What about lion prides?

Question

If a male Lion goes into enemy territory and takes over a pride even though he has a pride, will the second pride be absorbed by the primary pride. Will their territory be absorbed as well? And how few of males are needed to defend the pride?

Answer 1

Well yes, but it is not usually one male.  When lion males go to war with another pride there are usually two primary males and a couple more secondary males.  Yes, if they find a pride bounding their pride, with a sick, injured or old male in charge, they will attempt to take it over.  This is accomplished by either killing the dominate male or running it off.  Then the attacking males will kill ALL the cubs, if there are any.  The females wont like it at first, but they will soon be part of a larger pride.  The absence of cubs may force some of the females to go in to heat.  Once that occurs, they will mate with any male.  The females themself will have to define order with in the pride.  New females will have to fight for a spot of dominace.  All this behavior is well documented in films.  Many of which have been shown on PBS.

Lion prides range in size from few to many individuals, there is no set number or average.  Prides as small as 3 and as large as 30 have been docunmented.

Answer 2

One pride will not be absorbed by the other - the lionesses would not accept each other, and one territory would not be large enough to provide enough food for the two prides combined. When males who already have a pride oust the males from another pride, they simply divide their time between the two, spending a few weeks with the first pride, then visiting the second and spending a few weeks there. They will make sure they are present when the lionesses come into heat so that they will be able to father their young.

This is not a common behaviour, since it is hard for males to simultaneously defend two territories, but it does happen. At one point, of the six prides living in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater, four were controlled by the same males.