The tiger is the biggest and most powerful big cat. Its striped coat hides it perfectly, especially in tall grass, so it can sneak up on deer, wild boar, and buffalo. Tigers in India are known to kill huge, wild, ox-like animals called gaur, which can weigh 2,000 pounds. Lions may take down bigger prey because they are the only big cats that hunt in family groups, called prides. African prides are made of mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, and their cubs, along with one or two adult males. They can work as a group to single out and overwhelm powerful animals like buffalo. The largest prides may have thirty lions, which is enough to take on a hippopotamus, or perhaps even an elephant.
This Africanmale lion is eating an eland. A large kill like this can feed a big cat for a week, leaving time for catnapping before the next hunt. Lions sleep for sixteen to twenty hours a day.
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