Lion

The Lion (***Panthera leo***) is a large cat of the genus *Panthera* native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, round head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail.adult male lions are larger than females and have a prominent mane. It is a social species, forming groups called *prides*. A lion's pride consists of a few adult males, related females, and cubs. Groups of female lions hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates. The lion is an apex and keystone predator.

The lion inhabits grasslands, savannas and shrublands. It is more diurnal than other wild cats, but when persecuted, it adapts to being active at night and at twilight. During the Neolithic period, the lion ranged throughout Africa and Eurasia from Southeast Europe to India, but it has been reduced to fragmented populations in sub-Saharan Africa and one population in western India.

Description

The lion is a muscular, broad-chested cat with a short, round head, a reduced neck and round ears. Its fur varies in colour from light buff to silvery grey, yellowish red and dark brown. The colours of the underparts are lighter. A new-born lion has dark spots, which fade as the cub reaches adulthood, although faint spots often may still be seen on the legs and underparts. Males have broader heads and a prominent mane that grows downwards and backwards covering most of the head, neck, shoulders, and chest. The mane is brownish and tinged with yellow, rust and black hairs.

The tail of all lions ends in a dark, hairy tuft

Mane

The male lion's mane is the most recognisable feature of the species. Almost all male lions in Pendjari National Park are either maneless or have very short manes. Maneless lions have also been reported in Senegal, in Sudan's Dinder National Park and in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. The original male white lion from Timbavati in South Africa was also maneless.

Behaviour and ecology

Lions spend much of their time resting; they are inactive for about twenty hours per day. Lions can be active at any time, their activity peaks after dusk with a period of socialising, grooming and defecating. Intermittent bursts of activity continue until dawn, when hunting most often takes place. They spend an average of two hours a day walking and fifty minutes eating.

Hunting and diet

The lion is a hypercarnivore and is considered to be both an apex and keystone predator. Its prey consists blue wildebeest, plains zebra, African buffalo, gemsbok and giraffe. They also hunt common warthog, despite weighing less than the preferred weight range. In India, chital and sambar deer are the most common wild prey, while livestock contributes significantly to lion kills outside protected areas. They avoid fully grown adult elephants, rhinoceroses and hippopotamus and small prey like dik-dik, hyraxes, hares and monkeys. Unusual prey include porcupines and small reptiles. Lions kill other predators but seldom consume them.

Young lions first display stalking behaviour at around three months of age, although they do not participate in hunting until they are almost a year old and begin to hunt when nearing the age of two. Single lions bring down zebra and wildebeest, while larger prey like buffalo and giraffe are riskier. In Chobe National Park, large prides have been observed hunting African bush elephants up to around 15 years old in exceptional cases, with the victims being calves, juveniles, and even subadults.

Lions scavenge on carrion when the opportunity arises, scavenging animals dead from natural causes such as disease or those that were killed by other predators. Scavenging lions keep a lookout for circling vultures, which indicate the death or distress of an animal. Most carrion on which both hyenas and lions feed upon are killed by hyenas rather than lions. Carrion is thought to provide a large part of lion diet.

Predatory competition

Lions and spotted hyenas compete for prey and carrion. Lions typically ignore hyenas unless they are on a kill or are being harassed, while the latter tend to visibly react to the presence of lions with or without the presence of food. In the Ngorongoro crater, lions subsist largely on kills stolen from hyenas, causing them to increase their kill rate. In Botswana's Chobe National Park, the situation is reversed as hyenas there frequently challenge lions and steal their kills. When confronted on a kill, hyenas may either leave or wait patiently at a distance of 30–100 m (98–328 ft) until the lions have finished. Hyenas feed alongside lions and force them off a kill. Lion predation can account for up to 71% of hyena deaths in Etosha National Park. Hyenas have adapted by lions that enter their home ranges. When the lion population in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve declined, the spotted hyena population increased rapidly.

Lions tend to dominate cheetahs and leopards, steal their kills and kill their cubs and even adults when given the chance. Cheetahs often lose their kills to lions or other predators. A study in the Serengeti ecosystem revealed that lions killed at least 17 of 125 cheetah cubs born between 1987 and 1990. Cheetahs avoid their competitors by hunting at different times and habitats. Leopards take refuge in trees, but lionesses attempt to climb up and retrieve their kills.

Lions dominate African wild dogs, taking their kills and slaying pups or adult dogs. Population densities of wild dogs are low in areas where lions are more abundant. However, there are a few reported cases of old and wounded lion falling prey to wild dogs. Nile crocodiles may also kill and eat lions, and lions are found in crocodile stomachs.

Communication

When resting, lion socialisation occurs through a number of behaviours; the animal's expressive movements are highly developed. The most common peaceful, tactile gestures are head rubbing and licking, which have been compared with the role of grooming among primates. Head rubbing—nuzzling the forehead, face and neck against another lion—appears to be a form of greeting and is seen often after an animal has been apart from others or after a fight or confrontation. Males rub other males, while cubs and females rub females. Licking often occurs in tandem with head rubbing. The head and neck are the most common parts of the body licked.

The lion's repertoire of vocalisations is large; variations in intensity and pitch appear to be central to communication. Most lion vocalisations are variations of growling, snarling, meowing and roaring. Other sounds produced include purring, puffing, bleating and humming. Roaring is used to advertise its presence. Lions most roar at night, a sound that can be heard from a distance of 8 kilometres (5 mi). They roar in a very characteristic manner starting with a few deep, long roars that subside into a series of shorter ones.

Cultural significance

Lions appear in modern literature as characters including the messianic Aslan in the 1950 novel *The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe* and *The Chronicles of Narnia* series by C. S. Lewis, and the Cowardly Lion in L. Frank Baum's 1900 *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz*. One of the most iconic lions is Leo, which has been the mascot for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios since the 1920s. The 1966 film *Born Free* features Elsa the lioness. The lion's role as king of the beasts has been used in the 1994 Disney animated feature film *The Lion King*.