https://www.africa-wildlife-detective.com/hyena.html "The hyena will scavenge and hunt when given the opportunity. They are also accomplished hunters and they get up to 75 per cent of their food from their own kills. They are in fact designed with the extra stamina required for long and relentless chasing of their prey by the fact that they have large hearts relative to their body size. Statistics show: In the Kruger National Park they kill 50% of their own prey. In the Kalahari game Reserve and Chobe National Park in Botswana they kill 70-80% of their own prey." https://africanwildlifereport.com/do-lions-really-scavenge-more-than-they-hunt/ Despite being excellent hunters, scavenging is often simply just an easier way for lions to acquire food. Part of what makes scavenging much easier than hunting is the fact that in some areas of Africa, lions’ success rate when it comes to hunting is actually quite low. Lions may have just one successful hunt out of thirty to forty attempts, so finding carrion that someone else has already caught or that may have even died on its own can be a much easier solution. In other areas, however, lions’ success rate when it comes to hunting is much higher. One reason why the success rate for hunting can be so different depending on the area is that in some areas, lions stay in much larger groups (called prides) than in other areas. Lions usually hunt together and the more members they have in the pride who can participate in the hunting, the easier it is to catch prey. When given the choice, lions (especially the males) will almost always go for the easier option so when scavenging is an option, they will usually go for it. In some parts of Africa, lions will mostly only hunt when they can’t satisfy their hunger by scavenging and stealing prey from other predators. Scavenging is not always as straightforward as it may sound and there is quite often competition involved. For instance, lions can meet competition from other scavengers such as spotted hyenas. Most of the time, a lion can easily overpower a hyena or even a few of them, but when there are a lot of hyenas and the lion is heavily outnumbered, the hyenas will be able to chase away the lion and claim the carrion. Lions are much larger and stronger than other scavengers such as spotted hyenas and African wild dogs and other hunters such as cheetahs, so the lions will often be able to intimidate their opponent and thereby claim and steal their prey. What Do Lions Scavenge? Lions are not picky eaters. At all actually. Their diet can consist of almost any other African animals but they seem to thrive the most in areas that contain large populations of medium-sized or large herbivores such as zebras, wildebeests, Cape buffalos, Oryx, Impalas, and springboks. Lions can even kill and eat very large mammals such as hippos, rhinoceroses, and young elephants. These types of prey, however, are rarer than the ones I listed before since their skin is extremely thick which makes it more difficult for the lions to both kill and eat them. When it comes to scavenging, however, lions are even less picky than when it comes to hunting. They will go for more or less anything when scavenging. Even the large mammals such as elephants and rhinoceroses will be more than happily scavenged upon as they contain copious amounts of food. When given the chance, lions will not hesitate to steal food from other hunters or scavengers. Male lions are usually more greedy than the females when it comes to eating and they will generally make sure that they get to eat enough to become full before they let anybody else nearby. When they have found or caught a large prey animal or in areas with abundant prey and plenty of food, the male lions will, however, sometimes let the females and the cubs eat right away. The lionesses will usually let the cubs eat first. How Do Lions Find Carrion? Lions utilize several skills and strategies when it comes to scavening. They are excellent at observing other hunters or scavengers and will for instance often go after the sound of a group of spotted hyenas who are fighting over some carrion. Lions are usually able to chase hyenas away from carrions but if there are many more hyenas than lions, the lions will often not take the risk. Lions will also often keep an eye on vultures high up in the air and watch where they strike down as this usually means that there is carrion nearby. Vultures are excellent at locating carrions and keeping an eye on them is a great way for the lions to know where to find an easy meal. Vultures do not stand a chance against a large, hungry lion so when lions see a group of vultures, it usually indicates that they can have an easy meal with very little competition. Sometimes lions will also steal from smaller hunters such as cheetahs or African wild dogs. Since lions are so much larger and stronger than them, stealing their kills is often an easy task. Like hyenas, however, African wild dogs sometimes stay in large groups that can cause trouble for a single lion. Both cheetahs and African wild dogs will often consume their food rapidly to avoid losing it to larger predators such as lions so the lions have to be at the right place at the right time. Oftentimes, lions don’t even have to steal their food from other animals and will simply be able to locate nearby carrions by the smell of them.