Review: An excellent introduction to lions
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 5, 2013
In Africa, the "Big Five" game animals that tourists most want to see are the lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros. Of these, the lion is perhaps the animal that most intrigues many people. Author Roni Shwartz has written an excellent introduction to lions, covering their habitat, lifestyle, and eating habits, plus other fascinating tidbits about lions. The book is targeted toward children, but I learned a great deal about lions myself, including:* Lions are felines, with their closest relatives being tigers, jaguars, and leopards. Also, lions are not the biggest felines - that honor goes to tigers.* A lion's roar can be heard as far away as five miles.* Many years ago, lions inhabited Africa, southern Europe, and parts of the Middle East and Asia. Today they're found only in Africa, plus a few hundred in India.* Lions normally kill only for food or to defend themselves, but they hate hyenas and will go out of their way to kill one.* Lionesses (female lions) are better hunters than male lions and do most of the hunting.* In the wild, lions rest or sleep for about 20 hours a day, which makes them the laziest of the big cat species.To end the book, there are a couple of nice color panels of "Lions in Art" and "Lions in Popular Culture."The book is recommended as a very interesting and informative introduction to lions.