Most wild felids exhibit solitary social behavior. African lions are the exception, living in social groups of two to eighteen related females, their dependent offspring, and unrelated males. Within prides, affectionate behavior reduces tension and increases social bonding. In this study, we looked at the affectionate behavior shown by lions concerning their gender. We hypothesized that there was a relationship between gender and the rate of affectionate behavior. Based on this hypothesis, we expected to see more affectionate behavior in females because of their greater role in cub caretaking and reliance on the social group. The lions studied were in Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania (May/June 2024). Ten groups of lions were observed, and our data reflects a combination of all lions. We took note of how many lions were seen in the same area, the gender of the lions, and if lions were exhibiting head-butting, rubbing, cuddling, mating, or licking with another lion. We found that female lions were more affectionate than male lions, with 80% of affectionate behavior observed conducted by females (the sample size was too small for statistical analysis). We also found that 50% of lions observed showed no affectionate behavior, either sitting near but not interacting with other lions, or sitting alone apart from their pride. Confounding factors included the time of day that lions were observed (mid-morning to afternoon) as lions are most active during dawn and dusk. Lions tended to be observed close to the road, where safari vehicles have easy observational access. Our hypothesis was supported - female lions are more likely to exhibit affection than their male counterparts and we conclude that this is due to their roles as cooperative hunters and communal cub carers.