Name
Lion (leo panthera)Appearance
A male lion measures about 1.2 m at the shoulders, with a weight that can exceed 200 kg. Females are smaller with a mass of 130 kg. Lions are a yellowish-brown in colour, varying to a light yellow-brown, and their underparts are whitish.
Young lions characteristically have spots and rosettes on their underparts which do not fade on females. Males have long, sand-coloured manes on top of their heads and at the sides of their faces. At times, a mane can become almost black in colour.
Lion Diet
Lionesses usually hunt as a pack for the pride. Lions prey on large animals such as the wildebeest, zebra, gemsbok, buffalo and even giraffe. When the opportunity arises they will catch smaller prey like impala, steenbok, and porcupine.Lion Breeding
After a gestation period of 110 days, one to four cubs are born in South Africa. Mothers hide their cubs for up to six weeks after birth, bringing them up in the pride’s crèche. After ten weeks cubs start eating meat. The young stay with the pride for up to three years, dependant on the pride’s organisational success.Lion Behaviour
A pride of lions comprises of 12 females who are related, their young and dominant males. These males form alliances of two to six members, and together keep watch over and protect the pride. Lions communicate by means of their well-known roars, but also by scent-marking their surroundings, facial expressions and body postures.
In showing their large canine teeth, pulling back their ears to show the dark spot behind it, and twitching their tails irritably, they communicate aggression.
Lions are the largest African carnivores. They are also the only social cats in the bushveld....
Mature male lions have huge manes of hair over their necks and shoulders. This makes them look large and impressive to contenders and to fem...
All the lionesses in a pride are related and remain within the pride for life. They may split up into subgroups and operate in different par...
Its commonly thought that a pride of lion comprises a single dominant male and his females, this is not the case. A territory is held by sev...
Males determine that a female is in oestrus (ready to mate) by flehmen. They frequently smell the rump of the female or the area where she h...
Lions are opportunistic feeders eating mostly medium to large antelope but including anything from a mouse to an elephant....