African+Lion


 * Latin Name-** Panthera Leo
 * Kingdom-** Animalia
 * Psylum-** Chordata


 * [[image:http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/animal-bytes/animalia/eumetazoa/coelomates/deuterostomes/chordata/craniata/mammalia/carnivora/images/pic-african-lion-01.jpg width="336" height="324" align="center" caption="African Lion"]] ||  ||


 * __Description-__** Lions are the only cats that live in groups, which are called prides. Prides are family units that may include up to three males, a dozen or so females, and their cubs. All of a pride's lionesses are related, and female cubs typically stay with the group as they age. Young males eventually leave and establish their own prides by taking over a group headed by another male. Female lions are the pride's primary hunters. They often work together to prey upon antelopes, zebras, wildebeest, and other large animals of the open grasslands. Many of these animals are faster than lions, so teamwork pays off. Lions have been celebrated throughout history for their courage and strength. They once roamed most of Africa and parts of Asia and Europe. Today they are found only in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, except for one very small population of Asian lions that survives in India's Gir Forest.


 * __Habitat-__** Thousands of years ago, lions were common throughout southern Europe, southern Asia, eastern and central India and over the whole of the African continent. Today, with the exception of some 300 highly protected animals in the Gir National Park of India, the only naturally-occuring lions are found in Africa. (But even in Africa lions have been wiped out in the north; the last Numidian male was shot as a trophy in the 1930s.) Lions do not live in heavy forests and jungles and they do not inhabit desert areas due to a scarcity of game.

__**Diet-**__ They eat mostly wildebeest, zebra, waterbuck, kudu, giraffe and buffalo. They also tend to attack young elephant calves. In difficult times they will even go for small prey, like porcupine, with disastrous consequences for both.


 * __Reproduction-__** Breeding occurs all year round, with 2 to 6 cubs being born after a gestation period of about 110 days. The lioness normally leaves the pride to give birth to her litter, in a sheltered spot where she leaves them, while hunting. At this stage the cubs are very vulnerable, sometimes being taken away by scavengers, like hyenas, while their mother is away. If, at any stage doubtful about her cubs safety, the lioness will find another hide, and will transport them, on her mouth, one by one, to the new location. Once the cubs are big enough to follow their mother, she will take them to the pride and introduce them to their father. This is another crucial time in the cubs life, as nobody can predict the reaction of the male.


 * __Current Status-__** As a result of widespread persecution, cats in the wild have become one of the most threataened major groups of land animals. Nevertheless, the African lion numbered perhaps 200,000 individuals in 1991. They are generally protected even through some 150 humans have been mauled in the Gir National Park alone. Conversely in the Skeleton Coast Park in West Africa's Namibia the lions are all gone. Some were killed outside park boundaries by livestock herdsmen; others were forced to leave by drought.

2. An adult lion's roar can be heard up to five miles away and warns off intruders or reunites scattered prde members. 3. While lions are inactive up to 21 hours a day, in the darkest, coolest hours of early morning the "queen of beasts" hunt as a team to catch a satisfying meal. 4. Pride lonlinesses frequently enter breeding season together and later give birth at the same time which allows them to share nursing and other maternal duties. 5. Although only one out of four hunting events is successful, dominant males always eat first, lionesses next, and then the cubs scramble for scraps and leftovers. Resources: []  [|www.**africa**guide.com/wildlife/**lion**.htm]    []   []
 * __Interesting Facts-__** 1. Lions are the only truly social cat species, and usually every female in a pride of 5-37 individuals is closely related.