A camera-trap study in Gir Forest found that Asiatic lions most often sniffed at monitored scent-mark trees, with visits clustering in winter and around dawn and dusk. The observations offer a first quantitative account of scent-marking by free-ranging Asiatic lions, but they describe selected, frequently marked sites—not every lion or marking event across the landscape.
How researchers observed scent marking
In a study published on 23 April 2025, Mohan Ram and colleagues used motion-triggered cameras to document lion behavior at trees identified as regular marking sites in Gir, Gujarat. Local field trackers helped locate trees bearing signs such as concentrated scratches, punch marks, and hair or follicles. Researchers monitored 36 sites from March 2022 to April 2024; lions appeared on camera at 30.
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The cameras recorded 15,144 wildlife detections, including 1,542 lion detections. A lion visit counted as a separate event if at least 30 minutes had passed since the previous visit. Since several behaviors could occur during one visit, the behavior totals are not a count of mutually exclusive events. The team classified lions by age using body size, coloration, secondary sexual characteristics, and tooth eruption or wear.
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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →The authors describe the paper as the first quantitative study of scent marking in free-ranging Asiatic lions. Its focus on sites already known for frequent marking helped capture behavior, but it does not provide a random census of marking across Gir. Read the study in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
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Which scent-marking behaviors were recorded?
The researchers recorded sniffing, scratching, spraying, neck rubbing, body rubbing, and tree climbing. Sniffing was the most frequently observed behavior, followed by scratching and spraying. The study’s ranking is more useful than percentages detached from their counting method: a visit could include more than one behavior, and each behavior was counted when seen at least once during that visit.
These actions are forms of chemical communication. Scent marking is consistent with territorial, reproductive, and social communication, but the cameras could not identify the chemical content of a mark or establish what any individual lion communicated through a specific action.
When did lions visit the monitored sites?
About 67% of recorded visits occurred between January and June. Visits were highest in winter, and activity showed peaks around dawn and dusk. The most frequent two-hour interval was 5:30–7:30 a.m.; a second peak occurred from 5 to 6 p.m.
The seasonal pattern overlaps with a period of increased mating activity discussed in earlier lion research, but that timing alone does not show that breeding caused the change in visits. These figures describe use of the monitored scent-mark sites, not general daily activity for all lions in Gir.
How did patterns differ by age and sex?
Adult lions displayed more marking-associated behaviors than pre-adults or post-adults, and adult males showed more overall than females. Pre-adults climbed trees more often than adults. Females also marked: their scratching exceeded male scratching in January, April, and May.
These are patterns observed at the selected camera sites, not fixed rules about how each sex behaves. In particular, the study does not support the claim that females mark only when in estrus.
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What site features were associated with more visits?
The researchers compared candidate visitation models and selected one that considered tree species, habitat, and distance to water. Among the tree species, Syzygium cumini had the strongest positive association with visits in that model; visits were also more frequent in scrub habitat and at sites closer to water. These are associations, not evidence that a tree species, habitat, or water distance caused a lion to visit.
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Separately, 79% of documented scent-mark trees were within five metres of forest tracks. Trees near tracks might make marks easier for other lions to encounter, while proximity to water might help marks persist; the study did not experimentally test either explanation.
What the findings can—and cannot—tell us
The camera records show how lions used a set of known scent-post trees under observation. They do not reveal how often each individual marked, whether the same lions returned, or how scent signals affected territory, mating, or social encounters. The authors note that selecting visible, heavily marked sites may have influenced which behaviors cameras recorded and may have left less-obvious marking sites out of view.
To measure differences between individuals and broaden the picture beyond selected trees, the authors suggest combining GPS collars with camera traps. Their study provides a valuable behavioral baseline, while leaving the meaning and landscape-wide frequency of individual marks open for further investigation.
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