Lion The Real King

Lions are Tawny in colour, varying from silvery yellow to reddish brown with paler undersides (female belly yellowish to almost white); yellow to black mane. Faint, leopard like spots are generally found on the young which is sometimeskept into maturity.Males have thick mane around the head that extend down the chest between the forelegs and varies in colour from blond to black, whereas females do not have manesLions have massive shoulders and strong forelimbs, long, sharp claws, and short, powerful jaws. A Lions' roar can be heard by humans more than 8 km away.Prides of lions are generally composed of related females, whilst a typical prides contains around 13 lions, large prides can contain as many as 40 lions, while some prides will have a few as two members. A prides home range varies in size from 20-400 km².Lions are mainly nocturnal and are reputed to sleep or rest for about 20 hours a day. You will often find them lying under a shady bush, particularly after they've fed following a kil.

Lion Hunting

Lions are super powerful animals that usually hunt in coordinated groups and stalk their chosen prey. However, they are not particularly known for their stamina – for instance, a lioness' heart makes up only 0.57 percent of her body weight (a male's is about 0.45 percent of his body weight), whereas a hyena's heart is close to 1 percent of its body weight.Thus, they only run fast in short bursts, and need to be close to their prey before starting the attack. They take advantage of factors that reduce visibility; many kills take place near some form of cover or at night.They sneak up to the victim until they reach a distance of around 30 metres (98 ft) or less. The lioness is the one who does the hunting for the pride, since the lioness is more aggressive by nature. The male lion usually stays and watches its young while waiting for the lionesses to return from the hunt. Typically, several lionesses work together and encircle the herd from different points. Once they have closed with a herd, they usually target the closest prey. The attack is short and powerful; they attempt to catch the victim with a fast rush and final leap. The prey usually is killed by strangulation,which can cause cerebral ischemia or asphyxia (which results in hypoxemic, or "general", hypoxia). The prey also may be killed by the lion enclosing the animal's mouth and nostrils in its jaws[75] (which would also result in asphyxia). Smaller prey, though, may simply be killed by a swipe of a lion's paw.


Lioness in a burst of speed while hunting in the Serengeti
The prey consists mainly of large mammals, with a preference for wildebeest, impalas, zebras, buffalo, and warthogs in Africa and nilgai, wild boar, and several deer species in India. Many other species are hunted, based on availability. Mainly this will include ungulates weighing between 50 and 300 kg (110–660 lb) such as kudu, hartebeest, gemsbok, and eland.[4] Occasionally, they take relatively small species such as Thomson's gazelle or springbok. Lions hunting in groups are capable of taking down most animals, even healthy adults, but in most parts of their range they rarely attack very large prey such as fully grown male giraffes due to the danger of injury.
Extensive statistics collected over various studies show that lions normally feed on mammals in the range 190–550 kg (420–1210 lb). In Africa, wildebeest rank at the top of preferred prey (making nearly half of the lion prey in the Serengeti) followed by zebra.Most adult hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, elephants, and smaller gazelles, impala, and other agile antelopes are generally excluded. However giraffes and buffalos are often taken in certain regions. For instance, in Kruger National Park, giraffes are regularly hunted.In Manyara Park, Cape buffaloes constitute as much as 62% of the lion's diet,[78] due to the high number density of buffaloes. Occasionally hippopotamus is also taken, but adult rhinoceroses are generally avoided. Even though smaller than 190 kg (420 lb), warthogs are often taken depending on availability.In some areas, lions specialise in hunting atypical prey species; this is the case at the Savuti river, where they prey on elephants.Park guides in the area reported that the lions, driven by extreme hunger, started taking down baby elephants, and then moved on to adolescents and, occasionally, fully grown adults during the night when elephants' vision is poor.Lions also attack domestic livestock; in India cattle contribute significantly to their diet.Lions are capable of killing other predators such as leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, and wild dogs, though (unlike most felids) they seldom devour the competitors after killing them. They also scavenge animals either dead from natural causes (disease) or killed by other predators, and keep a constant lookout for circling vultures, being keenly aware that they indicate an animal dead or in distress.A lion may gorge itself and eat up to 30 kg (66 lb) in one sitting;[83] if it is unable to consume all the kill it will rest for a few hours before consuming more. On a hot day, the pride may retreat to shade leaving a male or two to stand guard.An adult lioness requires an average of about 5 kg (11 lb) of meat per day, a male about 7 kg (15.5 lb).


Four lions take down a cape buffalo in the central Serengeti, Tanzania
Because lionesses hunt in open spaces where they are easily seen by their prey, cooperative hunting increases the likelihood of a successful hunt; this is especially true with larger species. Teamwork also enables them to defend their kills more easily against other large predators such as hyenas, which may be attracted by vultures from kilometres away in open savannas. Lionesses do most of the hunting; males attached to prides do not usually participate in hunting, except in the case of larger quarry such as giraffe and buffalo. In typical hunts, each lioness has a favored position in the group, either stalking prey on the "wing" then attacking, or moving a smaller distance in the centre of the group and capturing prey in flight from other lionesses.Young lions first display stalking behaviour around three months of age, although they do not participate in hunting until they are almost a year old. They begin to hunt effectively when nearing the age of two.

Lion Hybrids

Lions have always been known to breed with tigers (most often the Siberian and Bengal subspecies) to create hybrids called ligers and tiglons (or tigons).They also have been crossed with leopards to produce leopons,and jaguars to produce jaglions. The marozi is reputedly a spotted lion or a naturally occurring leopon, while the Congolese spotted lion is a complex lion-jaguar-leopard hybrid called a lijagulep. Such hybrids were once commonly bred in zoos, but this is now discouraged due to the emphasis on conserving species and subspecies. Hybrids are still bred in private menageries and in zoos in China.
The liger is a cross between a male lion and a tigress.Because the growth-inhibiting gene from the female tiger is absent, a growth-promoting gene is passed on by the male lion, the resulting ligers grow far larger than either parent. They share physical and behavioural qualities of both parent species (spots and stripes on a sandy background). Male ligers are sterile, but female ligers are often fertile. Males have about a 50% chance of having a mane, but if they grow them, their manes will be modest: around 50% the size of a pure lion mane. Ligers are typically 3.0 to 3.7 m (10 to 12 feet) in length, and can weigh 360 to 450 kg (800 to 1,000 pounds).The less common tiglon or tigon is a cross between a lioness and a male tiger. In contrast to ligers, tigons are often relatively small in comparison to their parents, because of reciprocal gene effects

Lion Wild Life

The Wildlife Waystation, with its lion population now at sixty-two, is the place to be if you want to hear lions roar in “stereo”. Although “The Big Roar” is a sound generally heard in the evening, lions may be heard at any time of the day or night. One cat may start it off, but it doesn’t take long before the rest are joining in it is a memorable chorus, indeed!

Panthera Leo, quite nearly the largest member of the family Felidae (tigers are the largest), has historically been referred to as “King of the Beasts” because of its power and imposing appearance.

With tawny-colored fur, a long tufted tail, and weighing in at 300 to 500 pounds and seven to ten feet long, this cat is a muscularpowerhouse of a predator, with sharp, retractable claws and powerful jaws.

The male, somewhat larger than the female and with an impressive mane, is definitely a creature that demands attention. His job is to protect the pride. However, it is the females that actually are the primary “breadwinners” or wildebeest, or gazelle, or zebra in this carnivore family group.

A lion may run at speeds of over thirty miles per hour when attacking prey, but can hold this speed for only short distances. They depend upon stealth to approach within close range before launching an attack. Lions do not hunt every day and may only spend two or three hours in pursuit of food the remainder of their time is spent resting. Like most cats, they sleep sixteen to twenty hours a day. Lions are the only members of the cat family that are primarily social and generally live in family groups called prides. These prides are usually made up of one or more adult males, two or more females as well as adolescents and cubs.

Females rarely leave the pride, but male cubs are often expelled if a new male joins the group. Some males who may have literally “lost their pride” in a takeover by another male may become loners, or join with other such losers to form bachelor prides.

Lions are actively polygamous and breed quite often in the wild. After a gestation period of about 110 days, one to four spotted cubs are born. Although in captivity, lions may live as much as twenty-five years, in the wild they usually live about twelve years. Lions once ranged throughout Africa and from Europe to Iran and India. Today, they are limited to Africa south of the Sahara where good populations still exist in various national parks, and a single sanctuary in India, the home of the smaller Gir Forest lion. Even though lions prefer the grassy plains, savannas, and dry scrub, in India they have successfully adapted to forest life.

Lion Subspecies

Traditionally, 12 recent subspecies of lion were recognised, distinguished by mane appearance, size, and distribution. Because these characteristics are very insignificant and show a high individual variability, most of these forms were probably not true subspecies, especially as they were often based upon zoo material of unknown origin that may have had "striking, but abnormal" morphological characteristics.[16] Today, only eight subspecies are usually accepted,[14][17] although one of these, the Cape lion, formerly described as Panthera leo melanochaita, is probably invalid.[17] Even the remaining seven subspecies might be too many. While the status of the Asiatic lion (P. l. persica) as a subspecies is generally accepted, the systematic relationships among African lions are still not completely resolved. Mitochondrial variation in living African lions seemed to be modest according to some newer studies, therefore all sub-Saharan lions sometimes have been considered a single subspecies. However, a recent study revealed lions from western and central Africa differ genetically from lions of southern or eastern Africa. According to this study, Western African lions are more closely related to Asian lions than to South or East African lions. These findings might be explained by a late Pleistocene extinction event of lions in western and central Africa and a subsequent recolonisation of these parts from Asia.[18] Previous studies, which were focused mainly on lions from eastern and southern parts of Africa, already showed these can be possibly divided in two main clades: one to the west of the Great Rift Valley and the other to the east. Lions from Tsavo in eastern Kenya are much closer genetically to lions in Transvaal (South Africa), than to those in the Aberdare Range in western Kenya.[19] Another study revealed there are three major types of lions, one North African–Asian, one southern African and one middle African.[20] Conversely, Per Christiansen found that using skull morphology allowed him to identify the subspecies krugeri, nubica, persica, and senegalensis, while there was overlap between bleyenberghi with senegalensis and krugeri. The Asiatic lion persica was the most distinctive, and the Cape lion had characteristics allying it more with P. l. persica than the other sub-Saharan lions. He had analysed 58 lion skulls in three European museums.[21]
By far most lions, which are kept in zoos are hybrids of different subspecies. About 77% of the captive lions registered by the International Species Information System are of unknown origin. Nonetheless, they might carry genes, which are extinct in the wild and might be therefore important to maintain overall genetic variability of the lion.[22] It is believed, that those lions, which were imported to Europe until the middle of the 19th century, were mainly Barbary lions from North Africa or lions from the Cape.

Reproducing

 Lions will reproduce any time of the year, and all females of reproductive maturity will breed at the same time. This allows them to give birth in synchrony with each other, thereby sharing the suckling responsibilities. Any lactating female in a pride will suckle any cub that belongs to the pride. Lions give birth to 1-6 cubs after a gestation of 110 days. The cubs are born blind and helpless, and weigh approximately 2-4 pounds. Cub mortality is very high in lions, and less than half will survive their first year. Young males will leave their pride between 2-4 years if they can get away with staying that long, but sometimes they are forced out as early as 13-20 months. Females remain with their natal pride most of the time, although some will disperse and form new prides. While male lions are physically capable of reproducing at 30 months and females at 24 months, they do not generally successfully reproduce until pride membership has been firmly established.

Humans and Lions

Lions have no natural enemies, apart from humans who have hunted them for centuries. They were once common throughout southern Europe and southern Asia eastwards to northern and central India and over the whole of Africa.

The last lion in Europe died between 80-100AD. By 1884 the only lions left in India were in the Gir forest where only a dozen were left. They were probably extinct elsewhere in southern Asia, for example, in Iran and Iraq, soon after 1884.

Since the beginning of the 20th Century the Gir lions have been protected and their numbers have increased steadily over the years. Lions have been wiped out in northern Africa, and in southern Africa, outside the Kruger Park. They only live in the wild in remote areas which have remained undeveloped.

Well managed National Parks and game reserves are probably the lion's best hope of survival for the future.