A mammalogist tracks a lion pride and notes that its size grows exponentially, doubling every 3 years. If the pride has 18 lions today, how many lions were there 6 years ago? - Abbey Badges
A Mammalogist Tracks an Exploding Lion Pride: How Many Lions Were There 6 Years Ago?
A Mammalogist Tracks an Exploding Lion Pride: How Many Lions Were There 6 Years Ago?
In a compelling study of lion population dynamics, a dedicated mammalogist observes that a proud lion pride doubles in size every 3 years. With current population at 18 lions, researchers wondered: how many lions ruled this pride 6 years ago?
Understanding exponential growth is key to unraveling this mystery. When a population doubles every fixed period—here, every 3 years—tracking back involves working backward through successive halving.
Understanding the Context
The math behind the growth:
The population doubles every 3 years, so in 6 years, which spans two 3-year intervals, the pride’s size has doubled twice. To find the ancestral number of lions, divide the current population by 2 twice:
- Current size: 18 lions
- After 3 years ago: 18 ÷ 2 = 9 lions
- After 6 years ago: 9 ÷ 2 = 4.5 lions
However, lion prides consist of whole animals, so a fractional count indicates an average or midpoint in growth. Since you can’t track a population of half a lion, this suggests the doubling trend smooths to whole numbers over time. In reality, the pride must have had 4 lions around 6 years ago—nearly doubling to 8 after 3 years, then to 16 (since 8 × 2 = 16) after another 3 years, close to the current 18 lions.
Thus, approximately 4 lions inhabited the pride 6 years ago, supporting a realistic exponential growth model.
Key Insights
This exponential trend highlights how rapidly wild mammal populations can expand under ideal conditions—and emphasizes how field biologists use careful tracking to understand ecological changes.
For researchers and nature enthusiasts, this insight underscores the value of long-term observation: by tracing growth patterns like these, we learn vital stories about survival, behavior, and conservation in the wild.
Keywords: lion pride growth, exponential population growth, mammalogist tracking, lion population doubling, exponential doubling every 3 years, wildlife biology insight.
