Washington, July 21: Next time you are planning a night time stroll in south-eastern Tanzania then do check the moon size, as it could save you from being a lion's dinner.

A new study led by Craig Packer, an international lion expert based at the University of Minnesota''s College of Biological Sciences, shows that while moonlight limits lions'' success at hunting their four-legged prey, the last day of a full moon signals the beginning of a foraging opportunity for bipeds.

After that day, the moon will not appear until well after dark, but in rural areas where lions may turn to humans as a food source, hungry lions catch up on missed meals after a week of brightly lit nights.

The finding emerged from a study of nearly 500 lion attacks on Tanzanian villagers between 1988 and 2009. The vast majority of victims were attacked between dusk and 10 p. m., when humans are most active, on nights when the moon was waning and providing relatively little light.

Overall, lions are more successful at hunting when the cover of darkness allows them to surprise their prey. In wildlife reserves like the Serengeti, lions feed best during moonless nights, but their prey are available all night long. Human prey, on the other hand, is only accessible in the evening. The group''s analysis of the data also showed that the incidence of lion attacks on humans increases during the rainy season, when the moon is more likely to be obscured by clouds.

A look at attack rates aligned with phases of the moon shows a clear pattern. The rate of human attacks during the first half of the lunar cycle (when there is lots of moonlight on most evenings) is one-third the rate during the second half (when there is little or no moonlight). Lions are hungriest just after the full moon because the abundance of light just before and during the full moon has limited their ability to hunt successfully.

"So people start out at moderate danger during days 0-4, when the moon is only a sliver and sets shortly after sunset," Packer explained.

"Danger then declines as the moon gets brighter each evening - with very few attacks in the nights just before the full moon. Then WHAM, danger spikes as those hungry lions can now operate in darkness for the rest of the lunar cycle. The post-full-moon spike is restricted to relatively few hours of full darkness before the largish moon rises later in the evening," Packer added.

The study has been published in the PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science). (ANI)