Image by Ansie Potgieter, Unsplash
Introduction of Lion
Lion is a large wild cat species. Current days lions are found in Africa and India only.
Lions are Carnivorous mammals.
Lions are listed as Vulnerable on IUCN Red List.
Lion loves savanna and grassland. However, lions are also found in deserts.
Group of lions are referred as pride.
Lions have emotional relationship among the pride members.
There are instances when lions are observed protecting other animals like antelope and leopard cubs. The reason for this behaviour is still unknown.
Scientific Name of Lion
Panthera leo
Physical Description of Lion
Lions have well muscular, long bodies. Lions' appearance is significantly different between males and females.
The Mane of the male lion protects from rain and sunburn, and it's a great symbol of power and Pride.
The darker the Mane indicates, the higher age of male lions.
Asiatic lions have lesser hair in Mane than their African counterparts.
A male lion can grow up to 250 kg with a muscular body and mighty limbs. Lion size varies between 8 to 9 feet.
Male lions are larger than females. Females can grow up to 7 to 8 feet long, including a 1 to 1.5 feet tail.
At the end of their tail, they have a small hairy end, and it's called tuft. Depending on the region, the lion's body colour shade varies.
Asiatic lions have folds in the belly, which is absent in African lions.
Life Cycle of Lion
The average lifespan in the wild is between 8 to 10 years. At a time, they give birth to 1 to 5 cubs. The average gestation period is 105-110 days.
Female gives birth at an isolated place and changes cubs location frequently. Cub's eyes remain closed until 7 to 9 days.
Cubs start eating meat from the age of 8/10 weeks. After this mother introduces the cubs to the Pride.
In some cases, females of the Pride give birth simultaneously and share nursing responsibility. It is typically helpful to protect vulnerable cubs from predators.
Characteristics of Lion
Lions live in Pride. The number of members size varies from 3 to 40.
Each Pride has an alpha male, may have some other males un subadults, females and cubs.
Females majorly do the hunting; males occasionally participate, especially for larger prey.
The territory of Pride depends on the availability of prey. Its ranges from 20 sq km to 400 sq km.
Unlike other big cats, both male and females collectively protect their territory, or otherwise called the Range.
Male lions troll their territory and scent mark with their urine. They do this at regular intervals.
They also become very vocal during trolling to send a strong message to potential intruders.
Diet of Lion
Lions sleep and rest for 21 to 22 hours a day and become active after dark only. Therefore, their hunts majorly happened at night. However, in case of crisis, they hunt in the daytime as well.
Lions are apex predators and hunt from rodents to deer, bison, nilgai etc.
Lions even occasionally kill large animals like elephants, hippos and rhinos.
A male lion can eat up to 35 kg in a single meal.
