1. Lion - Of all the big cats on earth, the lion is the only that lives in a family group called pride.
   1. Physiology
   2. Distribution
      
      
2. Tiger - Tiger is the largest feline on earth
   
   
3. Jaguar - To the Indians in Latin America, the name jaguar means "a beast that kills its prey with one bound".
   
   
4. Leopard - After a kill, the leopard lugs the prey up to the tree, out of reach of other carnivores and scavengers.
   
   
5. Cheetah - The cheetah is the fastest animal in the world. It can reach speeds of 70 mph (110 kph).

Lion Physiology

The coloration of the lion depends greatly on it's geographical location with lions in desert regions being much lighter than lions that live in dense Savannah, However, a lion's typical colour is tawny yellow. Male lions have thick manes which distinguish them from females, protect them in fights with other males and of course give them that regal appearance that we all associate with the lion.

The lion is the only big cat with a tuft a the end of it's tail. Cubs are born with spots that fade as they get older but some persist on the belly and legs. The lion is the second largest cat on the planet (surpassed in size only by the tiger). It is the largest land predator on the continent of Africa, with a body weight of up to 200 kg for males and around 140 kg for females. The heaviest recorded lion ever was one of over 300 kg. This lion had a body length (including tail) of over 3.3 metres.

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Distribution

Lions were once much more widespread than they are today and could be found throughout the whole of Africa, Eastern Europe, Western Asia and into India. Today, teh only Asian lions inhabit a small pocket of forest in Western India while the rest of the world's lion populatioin are to be found in sub-Saharan Africa.

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