AFRICAN LIONPanthera leo

Location: Excluding the Congo rain forest belt, African lions range from the southernSahara Desert to South Africa. Their varied habitat includes the sands of the KalahariDesert to the more favorable open grasslands or wooded savannas. Since the grass isbrown throughout most of the year, savannas offer some concealment, and the shrubsand trees provide shade.

Diet: Lions are opportunistic carnivores. Hoofed mammals, such as zebras, antelopes, wildebeests and warthogs,are the main fare for these animals. Although most often thought of as hunters of large prey, lions consume almostanything including rodents, hares, lizards, tortoises, fish and crocodiles.

Hunting primarily takes place at night, especially where cover is sparse. The females do about 85-90% of thehunting for the pride. Males rarely participate in hunts; their manes may make them too conspicuous. As gameapproaches, the females cooperate together, spreading out in a broad front or semicircle. Some members charge theherd, forcing the prey toward the others. Hunting in groups enables them to be more successful than if operating asindividuals. A pride may make a kill about 4 out of 12 tries; a lone lion may catch 1 meal out of 12 attempts.

Lions need a large, steady supply of calories to survive. These animals tend to gorge themselves instead of eatingsmall amounts every day. In a single meal, a male lion consumes roughly 75-80 pounds of meat. This would be theequivalent of a 160-pound man eating a 40-pound steak. After such a meal, a lion would not need to eat for about aweek. This may be why lions can be observed resting about 20 hours a day.

Life Cycle: Unlike most other large cat species, lions are gregarious. A stable pride is usually composed of asisterhood of related adult females, 1 or more adult males, adolescents and cubs. A pride may vary in size and canhave up to 40 members, but 15 in a group is average. Not all lions live together in prides. At maturity, young males(and sometimes females) leave the prides of their birth and spend several years as nomads before they becomestrong enough to take over prides of their own.

The males contribute to the pride’s stability by keeping out transient males but females have been known to assist.The lions roar to warn possible trespassers that the territory has been staked out and to keep in touch with pridemembers. Roaring can be heard up to 5 miles away.

Several females within a pride may give birth in the same month. After a gestation of approximately 110-119 days(roughly 3 months), the female produces a litter of up to 6 cubs (usually 2-3). Each newborn cub weighsapproximately 1-3 pounds and is covered with spotted, woolly fur. During the first few weeks of life, the helplessyoung are kept hidden in the den, located in the rocks, bush or high grass.

Lionesses not only do they hunt together but they also rear their young in a communal style. Females suckle cubsother than their own. Cubs begin eating meat at about 3 months of age but are not fully weaned until they arebetween 6-7 months old. By 3 years of age, the male’s mane begins to grow and the young males are forced toleave the natal group. The young males form bachelor groups, and attempt to find territories and prides of theirown. Lions are not fully grown until they are between 5-6 years of age. Adult male lions are considerably largerthan the females, weighing roughly 330-530 pounds; females normally weigh between 270-300 pounds. The males’add to the appearance of great size and help to protect the neck during confrontations with rival males. Thelongevity of a lion is about 15 years in the wild and typically 24 years in captivity.

Remarks: Lions were once more widely distributed than today. Their widespread presence ranged throughoutEurope, Greece and the Middle East where the Crusaders frequently encountered them. Lions can still be found innorthern India but their numbers are low. Asiatic lions are confined to a population in the Gir Forest in India.