Wildlife: Fifteen Facts You Need To Know About Lions!

The facts below were put together by Porini Camp in Kenya and published by Africa Geographic. It is a wonderful summary of the basic information you need to know about lions. Enjoy 

1. Panthero leo is one of 4 big cats – the others being tigers, jaguars and leopards.

2. The lion is the second largest cat after the tiger, with males weighing up to 250kg and females up to 180kg. Despite being smaller overall than a tiger, the lion is in fact taller at the shoulder, by about 14cm.

3. It’s a vulnerable species, having suffered a 50% decline in numbers over the past 20 years, to a wild population today of approximately 23,000. In fact the lion used to occur across Africa and across Western Europe all the way to India and even in the Americas.

4. Wild lions live for 10-14 years and in captivity they can live for 20 years or more.

5. Lions are the only social big cat, with prides of up to 30 members, made up of related females, offspring and a small number of males. Nomadic males kicked out of their birth pride by the ruling males roam the countryside in search of suitable females to start their own pride.

6. Lions are apex predators but not above scavenging kills from other predators like hyena, leopard, wild dog and cheetah, which they will kill if given the chance.

7. The male lion’s mane size and colour is associated with sexual maturity and health and it is said that darker and fuller manes attract more female attention.

8. The white lion is not a sub-species or an albino – but rather a special morph with a genetic condition called “leucism”, which means a lack of cells capable of making pigment.

9. Lions rest for up to 20 hours a day, with an average 2 hours a day walking and 50 minutes eating. They hunt during the cooler hours, often between dusk and dawn.

10. The lighter and more agile females do most of the hunting, via co-ordinated attacks. Lions don’t have much stamina so use is made of cover, with short bursts of speed to cover ground as quickly as possible. Males often dominate the kill, not allowing other pride members to feed until they have had their fill.

1. Both males and females defend the pride against attacks from outside lions.

12. Males taking over a pride by ousting the previously dominant males will often kill cubs and younger male lions, in order to stimulate the females into breeding condition so that they can father their own cubs.

13. Lions generally hunt prey species weighing up to 550kg but those in some areas also specialise in hunting elephant, giraffe, hippo and buffalo.

14. One to four cubs are born after a gestation period of 110 days and wean after 6-7 months. Up to 80% die before the age of 2 – mostly due to starvation, predation by hyena or leopards or new male lions taking over a pride.

15. Man-eating lions are a rare occurrence and culprits are generally old or weak individuals or coalitions. The famous man-eating lions of Tsavo in Kenya killed 28 railway workers constructing the Uganda-Kenya railway line.