A video of a lion munching on grass in the Gir forest area of Amreli, Gujarat has gone viral on social media. The video shows the lion eating some of the foliage and vomiting all out later.
Though this may contradict the Hindi proverb ‘Sher kabhi ghaas nahi khaata’ (a lion never grazes grass), wild cats are generally known to chew on grass from time to time.
Sandeep Kumar, deputy conservator of forest (DCF), Shetrunji range, told TOI,
“All wild cats consume some grass when their stomach is upset. They eat grass to vomit out some undesirable food they have consumed.”
According to a study published by the researchers at the University of California, because wild cats like tigers, lions and cheetahs eat a lot of raw meat, their stomachs turn acidic and eating grass helps deals with that. The study also found out that eating grass helps lions purge parasitic worms.
