Loarie, Scott R.Tambling, Craig J.Asner, Gregory P.2014-08-282014-08-282013-05Loarie, SR, Tambling, CJ & Asner, GP 2013, 'Lion hunting behaviour and vegetation structure in an African savanna', Animal Behaviour, vol. 85, no. 5, pp. 899-906.0003-3472 (print)1095-8282 (online)10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.01.018http://hdl.handle.net/2263/41825Emerging evidence suggests that male lions are not dependent on female’s hunting skills but are in fact successful hunters. But difficulty locating kills and objectively characterizing landscapes has complicated the comparison of male and female lion hunting strategies. We used airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) measurements of vegetation structure in Kruger National Park, combined with global positioning system (GPS) telemetry data on lion, Panthera leo, kills to quantify lines-of-sight where lion kills occurred compared with areas where lions rested, while controlling for time of day. We found significant differences in use of vegetation structure by male and female lions during hunts. While male lions killed in landscapes with much shorter linesof- sight (16.2 m) than those in which they rested, there were no significant differences for female lions. These results were consistent across sizes of prey species. The influence of vegetation structure in shaping predatoreprey interactions is often hypothe-sized, but quantitative evidence has been scarce. Although our sample sizes were limited, our results provide a mechanism, ambush hunting versus social hunting in the open, to explain why hunting success of male lions might equal that of females. This study serves as a case study for more complete studies with larger samples sizes and illustrates how LiDAR and GPS telemetry can be used to provide new insight into lion hunting behaviour.en© 2013 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Notice : this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Animal Behaviour. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Animal Behaviour, vol. 85, no. 5, pp. 899-906, 2013. doi : 10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.01.018.Bayesian statisticsCarnegie airborne observatory GPS telemetryPredatoreprey interaction vegetation structureLion (Panthera leo)Light detection and ranging (LiDAR)Global positioning system (GPS)Postprint Article