Africa

Lion : Wildlife Southern Africa

Lions once lived in southern Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia. Today, however, they are confined mainly to the game reserves of Africa, with a few still living in the Gir Forest of India.

An adult male can be 2.4 m long and weigh as much as 238 kg. The female is smaller and lacks the males heavy mane. Lions live in open country, in groups known as prides, consisting of from 6 to 30 members headed by one or two mature males. They hunt co-operatively and, while the females are better hunters and do most of the work bringing down the prey, the males eat first, followed by the females, and lastly the cubs get their share. Lions prey mostly on hoofed animals, although they occasionally consume fallen fruit.

The initial charge of the lion only lasts for 50 to100 m, and if the target is quick enough to keep ahead of the predator for that distance, the lion usually abandons the attempt. Lions spend about 20 hours of each day doing absolutely nothing.

I. DESCRIPTION:

Typically a mature male stands 4 feet at the shoulder and is 8 .5 feet long, plus tail. He’ll average 450 pounds. Females are considerable smaller, weighing less than 300 pounds. Adult lions usually have a plain unspotted coat, light brown to dark ochre in color. Cubs are marked with spots which sometimes persist on the legs and belly until they are fully grown. Male lions have a brown mane, which tends to grow darker and fuller as the animal ages. The tail has a black tuft at the end. “White” lions occasionally occur in the Transvaal region of southern Africa, but these are not true albinos.

II. GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE AND 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.

III. DIET:

Lions feed on a variety of large and medium-size prey. They prefer wildebeast (or gnu) to all others when the annual migration brings the vast herds through the pride’s range. Otherwise they eat buffalo, zebra, antelope, giraffe, and warthogs. They also steal kills and carrion from other predators.

IV. LIFE CYCLE/SOCIAL STRUCTURE:

Lions are the only cats that live in large family groups. Each pride differs in size and formation, but a typical pride consists of two males and seven females and a variable number of cubs. Females are usually sisters and/or cousins that have grown up together. When the pride hunts as a group they employ an ambush that forces large prey into the waiting paws of the males. Females have the speed but lack the body weight to knock down large “family size” prey such as the wildebeast. Despite their tremendous power and adaptive efficiency, lions are more likely to fail than succeed in their attempts to kill.

Subadult males are driven out at 2-1/2 to 3 years of age and may go in a group with other males. Females mature in about two years, males a few years later. All big cats are induced ovulators, i.e. release of the ovum is brought about by the act of mating. The period of gestation for the lioness is between 105 and 118 days and usually three or four cubs will be born. Only one in five will survive the first year. When game is scarce the dominance hierarchy based on size and age quickly becomes apparent. The youngest die first.

Life span in the wild is 15-18 years, in captivity 25-30 years.

V. SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS:

Backward-curved horny papillae cover the upper surface of the tongue; these are useful both in holding onto meat and removing parasites during grooming. The roar of a lion can be heard up to five miles away and can be most intimidating up close. Territorial roaring is usually heard an hour after sunset. When separated they roar to let each other know where they are; females often call their cubs by roaring. The mature male’s mane not only makes him appear larger but protects his throat from his mortal enemies-other marauding lions and the hyenas after his cubs or kill.

VI. INTERPRETIVE INFORMATION:

A lion is a digitigrade, or toe walker; that is his heel doesn’t touch the ground. His loud roar is made possible by the cartilage in his throat having ossified into bone (referred to as the Hyoid structure). This is true of all the big cat or “roaring” species. The smaller cats with the softer throat structure can only meow.

VII. STATUS IN WILD:

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.