Lion facts
1. Lions usually live in groups of 10 or 15 animals called prides.
2. An adult male’s roar can be heard up to 8km away.
3. A female lion needs 5kg of meat a day. A male needs 7kg or more a day.
4. The name for a baby lion is a cub, whelp or lionet.
5. Lions go on the hunt for food mostly from dusk till dawn. Female lions do 85-90% of the prides hunting, whilst the male lions patrol the territory and protect the pride.
6. In the wild, lions live for an average of 12 years and up to 16 years. They live up to 25 years in captivity.
7. Often known as the ‘king of the jungle’, most lions actually live in the savannah or grasslands. Just one population of wild forest-dwelling lions remains, in Gir Forest National Park, India.
Nearly all wild lions live in Africa, below the Sahara Desert, but one small population exists around Gir Forest National Park in western India.
Lions in west and central Africa are more closely related to these Asiatic lions in India, than to those found in southern and east Africa.
8. Female lions reach two-thirds of their adult size by the time they are two years old.
9. Lions run at a speed of up to 81kmph.
10. Male's magnificent manes tell a story.
Male lions grow impressive manes the older they get. These manes grow up to 16cm long and are a sign of dominance. The older they get, the darker their manes go. As well as attracting females, their manes may also protect their neck and head from injuries during fights.
11. Cubs are reared together.
A pride of lions is usually made up of related females and their cubs, plus a male or small group of males who defend their pride. The lionesses rear their cubs together and cubs can suckle from any female with milk.
12. Lions can get their water from plants:
Lions are highly adaptable and can live in very dry areas like the Kalahari Desert. Here they get most of their water from their prey and will even drink from plants such as the Tsamma melon.
13. Lions hunt large animals such as zebra and wildebeest.
14. Hunting Strategy:
Lions do most of their hunting at night as their eyes have adapted to the dark and this gives them a huge advantage over their prey.
They hunt more during storms as the noise and wind make it harder for prey to see and hear them.
When hunting, lionesses have specific roles. Some play the role of 'centre' and others the role of 'wing' - the wings chase the prey towards the centres.
15. The heaviest lion on record weighed an amazing 826 pounds (375 kilograms).
16. Lions can reach speeds of up to 50 miles per hour (81 kilometers per hour) but not for too long, as they get a touch tired and don’t have all that much stamina.
17. The roar of a lion can be heard from 5 miles (8 kilometers) away. Mostly, if humans shout to each other you can hear our voices for up to 984 feet (300 meters). So that roar stretches a long way indeed.
18. The lions are the national animal of Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, England, Ethiopia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Singapore.
19. Lion and tiger breeds are called ligers and tigons, lion and leopard breeds are called leopons and lions, and jaguar breeds are known as jaglions.
20. A lion’s territory can be as large as 100 square miles (260 square kilometers). That is quite some territory, which they’re fiercely protective over.
21.Lionesses normally give birth to 2 to 3 cubs at a time. Most of the lionesses give birth at the same time in a pride and everyone looks after them together.
22. If another male comes and takes over the pride, they are not so keen on the cubs that are there already, and they kill them, so they can have their own cubs.
23. Female cubs stay with the pride and at two years old they’re ready to hunt. But the males get kicked out at that age, and they need to go out and find their own pride. They have to be strong enough to challenge another male for their pride.
Lions face many threats
African lion numbers are thought to have declined by over 40% in the just three generations.
The main threats are retaliatory or preemptive killing to protect people and livestock, and decreasing natural prey and habitat (for example, due to expanding human settlements and therefore less available grazing).
When their natural prey is scarce, lions can cause grave losses to livestock, which can destroy the income of local people.
Climate change is another increasing threat – extreme weather may cause more droughts or delay the rains, affecting lions’ prey.
They’re also killed for the illegal wildlife trade. In recent years, the demand for lion bone as a substitute for tiger bone in traditional Asian medicine has risen.
(Source: National Geographic Kids, wwf.org.uk, coolkidfacts.com)
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