Basic behavior:

- African lions occupy the highest position on top of the land carnivore's food chain; with the advantage of being the biggest carnivore around,they are very opportunistic hunters, usually stealing kills instead of catching one themselves. However, they are still exceptional hunters being able to take down large prey and specializing in the catching of medium to large-sized ungulates. Lions spend on a regular basis between 19 and 21 hours of resting throughout the day and getting active during late afternoons to hunt, bond, moving to another area, playing ...etc. However, it doesn't change the fact that a lion even if it's full will still try to go for a prey item if the prey isn't paying enough attention, is moving towards it, or is showing signs of weakness.

- African lions are the world's most social cat, their skills in cooperative hunting and tight bonds between individuals throughout their lives is what makes them unique amongst the cat family. They are 2 types of social structures observed in African lions:

1. Prides are groups of related females who hunt, feed, rest, groom, and raise their cubs together. These groups usually start off with either alone female mating with a male, which she and her female offspring(s) stay within their territory while continuing the bloodline in it or a solitary or group of lionesses leaving their natal pride, because its the numbers of lions are too great in comparison to food availability or a threat of nomadic males which could threaten the lives of their cubs. Contrary to popular expectations, pride members are usually scattered into small groups that change from one day to the next, so it is rare to have all members in one spot at the same time. The prides are also aggressive to unrelated lions, however, if the pride is extremely small where they are too few females to continue the bloodline, other females may be allowed to join and reversibly.

2. Coalitions are groups of young adult or adult males of around the same age who have left their natal pride together in order to take over a new one in the future. Nonetheless, it is common for unrelated males to join a coalition of males who haven't yet established a territory, and on rare occasions, sons may join their fathers if they have been exiled together after a takeover. A coalition's main objective is to take over one pride or more and further their bloodline, to do that these groups have to remove the current territorial males who dominate the pride they are eyeing. Similarly to prides, coalitions rest, hunt, feed, and groom each other when together, however, they do not spend a lot of time together and usually spend it away from each other patrolling their established territories, mating, or for nomadic males, to test resident adult males.

- African lions don't have a set mating season or birthing season, however, the females in the pride usually come into estrus around the same time as the other adult lionesses in the pride. In lion society, it is the first claimer first-served, whoever has spent the most time with a particular female claims it as his own, and unless one male, in particular, is stronger than the one who claimed the female, then it is done. When a male takes interest in a female and vice versa, the pair will stick together alone for a few days to successfully mate, and during that time they rest, bond, hunt, and feed together. The males during that period are more aggressive than usual towards everything including other lions; on the other hand, the female usually rolls around on her back, directly cuddles with the male, and exposes her rump while flicking her tail to encourage the reproductive instincts of the male as well as making low mewling sounds. When the female comes into the end of the estrus cycle, the current consort loses interest in her, giving the opportunity for another coalition mate to maybe sire some of the cubs of his own.

- African lions are quite aggressive against most things that enter their personal space or when a lioness if being protective over young cubs. Lionesses generally don't fight if they have no reason to risk injuries, elephants, rhinos, buffalos, and hippos are too be avoided even if their cubs are in danger of being attacked. Male lions though can sometimes stand their ground against buffalos and even herds if they feel they can intimidate them, however, if the buffalos aren't backing down the male will back off and won't risk injuries.

- African lions, like most big cats, are mainly ambush hunters, they prefer to lie in cover and get as close as possible to their prey or wait for it to make a mistake and come closer, during day time lions do not actively hunt and prefer to wait for their prey to get as close possible without them directly moving towards them (that behavior is only applied during day time.). If the prey hasn't it's back turned an experienced lion will rarely charge unless it's close enough to start chasing (30m or 32 yards). In prides, females do most of the hunting while the males usually trail behind and then claim their share or the entire kill. Though it isn't that male lions don't hunt or participate in ones, usually, males take part in buffalo, hippo, rhino, giraffe, and elephant hunts or when the prey targetted is still upon its feet when the males reach the scene. When hunting, lionesses can cooperatively hunt, but the individuals have no particular strategy and when hunting average prey sized animals, one lioness moves by herself and starts crouching while the rest either watch and wait for the quarry to be caught and join in order to subdue it .This doesn't mean that multiple lionesses can't join the first one on a hunt it just means if you're not hungry you'll probably won't engage in it at first, though other members can try to anticipate the prey's tragejectory and lie in ambush. (Don't tell members you're individual plans, keep you're strategies a secret)
     
                                                                                Large prey hunting behavior below

Large prey is however hunted differently, because of their size, aggressive behaviors, and deadly weapons, ambushers will not be able to stop a buffalo if it comes in front of them. When the lions hunt a buffalo herd, they charge at it and try to make them run by either taking them by surprise or charging collectively at it. When the herd is finally running, the Lions take advantage of the panic, select a target, and pounce it. If at one point the herd charges back, the lions can either try again to scare the herd, but if they are not intimidated the lions will probably retreat, or they can persist and risk injuries.
(Do not pounce when being chased off by a buffalo herd, back away and if you want to scare off the herd just paw swipe or mock charge them by growling). When hunting young buffalos, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, and elephants, lions won't need to sneak up on it or coordinate an attack like previously mentioned, however when facing the mother of the juvenile animal they'll incircle them both and be relentless if either one is showing signs of weakness.

- African lions are extremely aggressive against other large predators especially those in competition with them for food, being the dominant apex predator of its ecosystem, they do not fear most predators except crocodiles and large groups of hyenas. They will readily kill or attack a young predator, an adult that is injured or distracted, or even a group who isn't paying attention to its surroundings. They will not actively risk injuries during conflict or actively look for other predators but if they happen to stumble upon the above then they will react accordingly, they will generally not eat those competitors though if they are not desperate for food.
Hyenas when in groups can represent a potential threat to prides when trying to protect their kill, usually the hyenas staying at a reasonable distance away from the kill usually don't pose a threat to the lions and are ignored. However when hyenas realize that they can overpower lions in a situation, they will start to come closer to the kill, and in that case, the lions will start to show more and more aggression and can eventually get up and even attack (Keep in mind the more you show aggression the more the hyenas will be aggressive it is your choice whether you want to risk injuries for a kill and putting your life on the line as well as the ones of your fellow pride mates.) It has been noted, that lions hesitating to attack will even allow for a moment a group of hyenas to feed before they make the decision to attack or leave, and even when they start to engage in aggressive behaviors the lions can allow the hyenas to come very close while assessing the situation. In these situations, the juvenile and sub-adult cubs usually retreat or stay on the carcass if the situation escalates to a full-on fight. Male lions on the other hand can change the entire scene in a snap, hyenas fear large healthy adult males and will never actually risk fighting one. Scavenger birds are tolerated as long as they are not too close to the lion (7-10 meter distance), though jackals in relatively small numbers are allowed to get near a pride and even more so when it's a male lion, as long as they don't get near the lion's eating spot. 

- African lions share their kills with their pride or coalition mates however depending on how hungry they are or how small the carcass is they will behave differently. The smaller the carcass and the hungrier a lion is, the more aggressive it is towards its fellow pride and coalition mates, an impala carcass for example will easily be torn to pieces with adult lions fighting for it whereas a buffalo carcass will be shared with no major fighting or growling unless the entire pride or coalition is hungry and that there is not a lot of room to eat on the carcass. In aggressive feedings, lions can slap, and growl at each other, but it's usually a way for lions to say (Let me have my share and don't eat too close to me). Being the dominant authority around a carcass, adult male lions can decide to not share or eat at the same time with the lionesses and the cubs until he/they allow them to eat. Lions usually steal kills from other predators as previously mentioned but they will not risk an injury if it is not guaranteed and they don't scavenge very old carcasses.

- Lions in the Serengeti are not particularly fans of water, they can follow prey through water, as well as crossing the river, but there can always be a crocodile hidden beneath the surface, and water slows their movements so they are always hesitant in going in it.