interesting facts about lion

Lions are the only big cats to live in groups, called prides. Prides are close family groups. They work together to defend territory and hunt.

The females in the pride tend to do the majority of the hunting. They work as a group and use intelligent hunting tactics to catch prey which they would not be able to catch alone as they are faster than them.

Lions enjoy relaxing and lazing around. They spend between 16 and 20 hours each day resting and sleeping. They have few sweat glands so they wisely tend to conserve their energy by resting during the day and become more active at night when it is cooler.

Lionesses are caring mothers who will even take care of a neglected cub, allowing him/her to suckle and giving them a chance to survive. Two or more lionesses in a group tend to give birth around the same time, and the cubs are raised together. Cubs are extremely playful.

Lions roar to communicate their position to other prides. A lion’s roar is the loudest of any big cat and can be heard up to 8 km away.

Lions have terrific night vision. They are 6 times more sensitive to light than humans. This gives them a distinct advantage over some prey species when hunting at night.

Lions communicate through a range of behaviours and their expressive movements are very highly developed. They will perform peaceful tactile actions such as licking each other and rubbing heads. Head rubbing, or nuzzling, is a common greeting behaviour for lions. They also communicate through a variety of vocalisations including purrs, snarls, miaws and hissing. Their vocalisations also vary in intensity and pitch.

The mane of the male lion is a distinctive characteristic of lions as no other big cats have them. It makes male lions appear larger, thus allowing them to be more intimidating. It also signals sexual maturity and health status; lionesses tend to favour denser and darker manes.

Lions are symbols of strength and courage and have been celebrated throughout history for these characteristics. They are also common symbols for royalty and stateliness, hence the phrase ‘king of the jungle’.

Ancient Egyptians venerated lions as their war dieties due to their strength, power and fierceness. The famous sphinxes are just one of many mythical depictions of the lion in Egyptian culture.

Although lions belong in the wild they are still used by travelling circuses in the UK.

African lions are the most social of all big cats and live together in groups or “prides.” A pride consists of about 15 lions.

 Male lions defend the pride’s territory while females do most of the hunting. Despite this, the males eat first.

 These majestic cats are threatened by habitat loss. The lion is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The lion was once found throughout Africa, Asia and Europe but now exists only in Africa with one exception. The last remaining Asiatic lions are found in Sasan-Gir National Park in India, which was primarily created to protect the species. Currently, there are approximately 350-400 lions in the park.

A lion can run for short distances at 50 mph and leap as far as 36 feet.

 Even though the lion is sometimes referred to as the “king of the jungle,” it actually only lives in grasslands and plains. The expression may have come from an incorrect association between Africa and jungles or may refer to a less literal meaning of the word jungle.

 A good gauge of a male lion’s age is the darkness of his mane. The darker the mane, the older the lion.

 A lion’s heels don’t touch the ground when it walks.