Lions

All you ever wanted to know

Common Name: Lion
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus species: Panthera (panther, leopard) leo (lion)
Size: male 1.7 to 2.5 m (5.5-8 ft.), and 1.2 m (4 feet) at the shoulder: female 1.4 to 1.7 m (4.5-5.5 ft.), and 1.06 m (3.5 feet) at the shoulder
Weight: males 150 to 250 kg (330-550 lb.), females 120 to 180 kg (265-395 lb.)
Description: short-haired, tawny cat; black tail tuft, ears, and lips; males with blond to black manes; newborns with grayish spots which fade to adult color by three months
Life span: up to 30 years in captivity, 15 years average
Habitat: sub-Saharan Africa in grasslands and semi-arid plains
Diet: antelopes, gazelles, warthogs, smaller carnivores, and occasionally Cape buffalo, giraffe, and young elephants

Lions are the only truly social cat species, and usually every female in a pride of 5 to 37 individuals is closely related.
An adult lion's roar can be heard up to five miles away and warns off intruders or reunites scattered pride members.
While lions are inactive up to 21 hours a day, in the darkest, coolest hours of early morning the "queens of beasts" hunt as a team to catch a communal meal..
Pride lionesses frequently enter breeding season together and later give birth at the same time which allows them to share nursing and other maternal duties.
Although only one out of four hunting events is successful, dominant males always eat first, lionesses next, and cubs scramble for scraps and leftovers.
Lions are the largest African carnivores and a hungry lion pride feeds on many animals that pass through or share its home range. As specialized communal predators, a pride's role includes keeping herbivore populations in balance with the resources available in their area of the plains.

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Troy Ruivenkamp and Ben Stock.
Copyright © 1998 by Colonel Hogan Productions. All rights reserved.
Revised: 25 May 1998 10:10:46 +1100.