Facts about Lions/Amazing Facts of Lions

 Facts about Lions/ Amazing Facts of Lions

Lion is a big cat also called the "king of the jungle". The lion belongs to the Panthera genus and family Felidae. After Siberian tiger, lion is the second largest cat species. The word “lion” is derived from Latin word “Leo” and ancient Greek word “Leon”. The scientific name of the lion is Panthera Leo. There are two subspecies of lions; the Asiatic lion (Panthera leo Persica) and African lion (Panthera leo melanochaita). Probably 100,000 years ago African lion and Asiatic lion split apart.

Description of lions

Lion is a strong and brave animal and also known as “King of the beasts”. Lion has a muscular body, covered with short yellow-gold coat. The adult male lion has reddish-brown to black shaggy mane determined by age, genetics and hormone. The coats of young lions have light spots that disappear as they grow older. The bodies of young lions and tigers without their coats are so similar that only experts can distinguish them. African lions are bigger than the Asiatic lions. The length of the African lion is 9 to 10 feet from head to tail. The length of their tails are around 2 to 3 feet long. Their body weight is between 330 pounds and 550 pounds. The length of the Asiatic lion is 6.6 to 9.2 feet from head to tail and weight is 242 pounds to 418 pounds. They have round head, round ears, a long tail. End of their tail has a tuft of hair. When the cubs born, they have no tuft but when they reach around 5 month of age, the tufts begin to develop.

Male lion has a luxurious collar of long hair around its neck which is called “mane”. Male lion’s mane is one of the most distinctive features of this species. When the African male lion reaches one year of age, the mane begins to grow. All male lions do not have mane. In Pendjari National Park, in West Africa, all male lions have little to no mane. The maneless lions are found in Tsavo East National Park in Kenya, Dinder National Park in Sudan and in Senegal. The white lions of Timbavati in South Africa are also maneless.

The colour of the mane of the male lion is red, brown and black and covers the head, neck and chest. Their mane’s colour and size are depended on climate, sexual maturity, testosterone production and genetic. The darker and fuller mane indicates a healthier animal.

The lions in North American and European zoos have heavier manes but Asiatic lions have sparser manes. The growth of male lion’s mane is depended on the testosterone hormone.

Lions live in group, which is called “pride”. Each group has 3 or 4 male lions and 12 to 14 lionesses and the cubs. The male lions can live 12 to 16 years but the lioness can live 15 to 18 years.

Habitat of lions

Lions are fund in the Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Eurasia. In Africa, lions live in the equatorial rain forests and the southern coast of the western portion of Africa. They live in savana grasslands. They also found the harsh environment of the Namib Desert in southern Africa. Most of African lions are found in the dense forests of Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

 In the past, lions were widespread in Eurasia, especially in southern Eurasia, from Greece to India. But now they are found in Gir forest of north-western India. There are now about 674 lions are surviving in this restricted Gir National Park in the state of Gujarat, India.

 Asiatic lion is also known as “Indian lion” and “Persian lion” which is one of the five pantherine cats in India along with Indian leopard, snow leopard, clouded leopard and Bengal tiger. The Asiatic lions live in mixture of dry savana forests and very dry deciduous scrub forests.

Behaviour of lions

The lion is the most social of all wild species, lives in a social organization, known as “pride”. In a pride, there will be 2 to 3 male lions and 5 to 7 female lions along the cubs. The pride has been seen with over 40 animals.

 Female lions form the core of group and do not tolerate outside females and they stay in the same pride throughout their lifetimes. Due to this durability, lion pride is considered matriarchal in their social structure. Although, some female lions also become nomadic.

Tsavo lion pride has only one adult male lion. When the male lions reach 3 years of age, they are excluded from their maternal pride. They become wondering nomads and spend years in a nomadic phase until take over an existing pride. A group of male lions is called “coalition”. The pride occupies the area which is called “pride areas” and the areas occupied by the nomad are called “range”.

Lions produce the sounds to communicate such as growling, snarling, mewing, roaring, purring, puffing, bleating and humming. The sound of their roar can be heard from a distance of 8 km. Their roar is a warning to other animals and predators.

 As the male lions are more powerful build, they defend the pride against intruders. To take over the pride, male lions often fight each other. If the invading males win, the first thing they do is kill off all the cubs in the pride because they do not want any existing gene pool of the loser’s offspring.

Hunting and Diet

Lions are carnivorous animals so they eat the flesh or meat of other animals. Lions hunt either alone or in pride. The lions are apex predators and are at the top of the food chain. They hunt as a group by creating strategic plans which increase their success to get their prey and also take down very large animals. The first method is by stalking the prey. They hide into the bush or tall grasses and watch the prey as long as possible. Slowly, they surround the prey by crawling quietly. When they come close enough, attack the prey and grasp the prey’s throat so that it stops breathing. They paralyze their prey by crushing its neck with their powerful claws.

In the second method, the lionesses become straight forward because the male lion join with them. Basically lioness hunt but sometimes when the prey is bigger and stronger, the male lion also join with them. Then they do not need to hide or stalk but they corner the prey and fight face to face with it.

Lions prefer to hunt the slower animals, weak or injured animals or babies of the animals, which are easy to catch. When hunting smaller animals, lions clip the animal’s ankle from behind while it is walking or running. When they hunt big animal, they jump on the animal’s back to bring it ground. Lions eat hoofed-animals, deer, bison, as well as giraffe, buffalo, zebra, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, ostrich, small crocodile, tortoise etc. Adult male lion eats 16 pound and lioness eats 11 pounds of meat each day.

Lions usually hunt at dusk and dawn but during the day time, they usually take rest or sleep. They have very sharp eyesight so they able to see well in the dark. Most of hunting is done by lioness but after killing, male lion eat first and the lioness or cubs wait for their turn.

Cubs of the Lions

When the lioness is 4 years old, they reproduce. The wild lions breed throughout the year but do not mate at a specific time of year. Female lions mate with one or two adult male lions of their pride. After 108 days of gestation period, female lion gives birth one to six cubs. This time lioness leaves the pride and gives birth the cubs in dense cover shelter of bushes, or even a cave. She moves her new-born cubs to a safe place by holding the scruff of the neck with her mouth. Mother lion hides her cubs for one or two months then introduces them to the rest of the pride.

The new-born cubs have a thick coat with dark spots. The weight of the cubs is around 1.5 kg. Then the cubs are blind but after 3 to 11 days, they able to see. When the cubs are around 3 weeks of age, they start to walk. A cub may nurse from other females as well as its mother. All the lactating female lions in a pride suckle the cubs. The cubs start to eat meat at the age of three months and their weaning stars at 10 weeks which completed at 10 months. Cubs are also known as "whelps" and "lionets"

Tolerance of male lions varies - one male could let the cubs play patiently with its tail or its mane while other males might bark the cubs. The cubs also play hide and seek and wrestling with each other, with this they develop vital skills which help them later in life to hunt and survive in the wild.

Mother lion gives training her cubs to hunt. The cubs are often killed by predators such as hyenas and wild dogs. The cubs also die of starvation and abandonment. About 80% of cubs die before the age of 2.

 When the male cubs are 2 to 3 years of age, they leave the pride or are driven off by the other male lions of the pride. After one or two years of nomadic life, the young males drive out the resident males of a pride and take over the pride.

Threats to Lions

The main threats to the lions are habitat destruction, human-lions conflict, poaching, hunting etc.

The bushmeat trade is the commercial sale of meat through the illegal poaching of wildlife. The poachers kill the wildlife for bushmeat trading, which affects the food chain. The population of animals that are the food of lions are reducing. The poachers kill the lions for their body parts such as skin, claws, teeth and bones which are sold in Asian market with high price.

Many parts of Africa, the locals kill the lions during the Passage ceremony to show their manhood or heroism.

The other threats that affect the lions are mining in wild areas, deforestation, illegal hunting, diseases etc.

Forest areas are reduced due to deforestation, so they do not get enough food and water, breeding habitat, shelter.

With the rapid growth of population, the people clear the forests to make their homes, build roads, dams and other constructions making it challenging or impossible for lions to roam or disperse safely and restricting gene flow.

Sometimes lions attack and kill livestock of the farmers, which often triggers farmers to take revenge by killing lions. They use poison which can kill entire pride.

In October 2018, 25 lions were found dead in Gir Forest, India. Four of them had died for canine distemper virus, which also killed several Serengeti lions earlier.

Conservation

The Asiatic lion’s current range is restricted to the Gir National Park in the state of Gujarat, India. In August 2017, 650 wild lions were counted by the surveyors in the Gir Forest. The 15th Asiatic Lion Census could not be conducted in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. But in June 2020, the surveyors counted that there are now 674 Asiatic lions in Gir Forest.   

World Lion Day is celebrated on 10 August since 2013. The purposes of celebrating World Lions Day are to raise awareness about lions issues; to protect the natural habitat of the lions and educate people how to protect the lions.

In Africa, most lions now live in East and Southern Africa but their numbers are rapidly decreasing due to diseases and human interference. Now there are 20,000 lions remain in the wild.

Now the Gir Forest is the home of 206 males, 309 females and 137 cubs and 22 are unidentified lions.

The best time to visit Gir National Park

Gir National Park situated in the state of Gujarat, India. On 18^th September 1965, Gir National Park was established. The total areas covered by this sanctuary are 1412 sq km, which is the sole home of the world most endangered species Asiatic lions. There are also found 606 different plant species,36 mammal species, 2000 species of insects and about 300 bird species.

Many researchers, hunters and lion lovers get attracted to the Gir National Park to get the glimpse of the “king of the jungle”, in their natural habitat.

From 16^th June to 15^th October Gir National Park is closed. December to March is the best time to visit the park but the hottest months April and May are considered the best months for viewing wildlife and photography.