Facts about Lions
The lion has been a symbol of power, strength and ferocity. They are the only big cats that live in closed family groups called prides. Number of members in a pride can vary from 25 to 40. A lion’s roar can be heard from as far as 5 miles away. It may sleep up to 20 hours a day. They enjoy relaxing and lazing around. They run for short distances at a speed of 50 mph. African lions are most social as compared to rest of them. Lions generally live on grasslands and plains. Their heels do not touch ground when they walk. Female lions do most of the hunting and males defend the territory of the pride.
Fast Facts: –
- They are carnivores and generally feed on zebras, deer etc. Sometimes, they also act like Scavengers as they attack hyenas and steal their prey.
- On an average, a lion can eat up to 40 pounds of meat during one meal.
- Lion and lioness greet each other by rubbing when they meet. It is a way of exchanging scents.
- They have long tail that helps them to keep their body balanced while running.
- A lion cannot roar until it reaches 2 years.
- Average life span of a lion is 15 years in wild and 25-30 years in captivity.
- They are the second largest in big cat family after tigers.
- A male lion’s age can be determined by the colour of its mane. The longer and darker its mane is, older the lion is.
- Female lions prefer to mate with lions with longer and darker mane.
- African lions are listed as vulnerable.
- Lions are the national animals of several countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Luxembourg etc.
- If a lioness breeds with a male tiger then their hybrid is known as tigon and if a female tiger breeds with a male lion then the hybrid is liger.
