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 lions typical colour is tawny yellow. Male lions have thick bushy 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 at 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 200Kg for males                                 and around 140Kg for females. The heaviest recorded lion ever was one of over 300Kg. This lion had a body length (including tail) of over 3.3 metres.

Social System

Lions live in groups called Prides which can consist of up to 40 animals, the majority of whom are females and their cubs. At the heart of the pride are the lionesses many of whom are closely related. There will also be from 1 to 4 resident males whose duty it is to defend the pride from intruding lions. Their tenure over the pride will last perhaps 3 years, until they are ousted by other male lions seeking to establish a pride of their own. It is at this time that the cubs in the pride are most at risk. If the intruding lions takeover bid is successful they will frequently kill all of the existing cubs in the pride so that the lionesses will quickly come into oestrus again and be ready to mate with them

Diet

Lions prey mostly on large ungulates such as zebra, wildebeest, antelope, warthogs, giraffe and buffalo but they will also scavange for food and frequently take kills from other predators such as hyenas, leopards and cheetahs.

Lions hunt by ambush and it is usually the females in the lion pride that do most of the hunting. The hunt is usually coordinated to a fairly high level and a great deal of cooperation among the lionesses is required. A number of lionesses will chase the prey animal towards others lying in wait who will undertake a short chase before leaping on the selected animal. When the unfortunate animal has been taken to the ground one of the lions will then clamp it's jaws on the victims neck or even cover it's nose completely until the animal breathes no more.
Despite the lionesses efforts it will be the resident males who eat first followed by the lionesses and last but not least the cubs will get their chance.

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, the only Asian lions inhabit a small pocket of forest in Western India while the rest of the worlds lion population are to be found in sub - Saharan Africa.
Nearly all of the worlds lions live in reserves, However it is unfortunate that due to rapidly expanding human populations there are no realistic prospects for the establishment of any other large reserves in either Asia or Africa. Since, it is only in these protected reserves that the lion can hope to prosper, in the long term, we must worry about the lack of opportunity that there is for building more reserves.