Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure

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Fast Facts:

Lions have long been admired for their beauty and strength. While they are often called the "king of beasts," it is actually the females - the lionesses - that form the basis of the lion social structure, the pride.
Lions hunt by slowly stalking their prey. They will carefully creep within 30-60 feet of their prey, then make a final rush and leap on their victim.
Lions may spend up to 20 hours per day just lying around.
A male lion's mane is somewhat of a status symbol. At a kill, the lion with the largest mane often eats first. If another male spots a large maned lion on the horizon, he will often keep his distance.
Manes may also buffer the males from bites and slashes during fights. The mane starts to become visible around 2 years of age.

African Lion

Scientific Name:	Panthera leo
Classification:	Phylum Chordata, Class Mammalia, Order Carnivora, Family Felidae
Status:	The eastern and southern subspecies of the African lion are listed as vulnerable by IUCN. The western subspecies is listed as endangered by IUCN.
Range:	The African lion was once found throughout the entire African continent. However, because of increasing population fragmenting, many experts believe that only lions in national parks and preserves are likely to survive in the long term.
Habitat:	Savannas, open woodlands, and scrub country
Diet:	Lions hunt prey ranging in size from 100 - 1,000 pounds - zebra, buffalo, wild boars, wildebeest, giraffe, impala, and other antelope. Lions may also steal prey from other animals.
Size:	Length: 7 - 10 feet long Weight: 200 - 500 pounds
Lifespan:	15 years on average; sometimes longer in captivity
Location:

Special Features

The pride forms the basis of the lion social structure. Prides consist of 2 to 18 females and their offspring and 1 to 7 males.

A lion's roar can be heard up to 5 miles away.

Roaring is believed to have a territorial function and to help animals locate each other. Hear other lion vocalizations.

Social Structure & Behavior

Females in a pride are usually related. Mothers, daughters, aunts, and cousins often live in the same pride for their entire life. Females are not dominant to males, but are in charge of finding water sources, moving the pride, and deciding where to sleep. Females also do most of the hunting.

Males are usually driven out of their mothers' prides at about 2.5 to 3 years of age. They usually form a coalition with other males from their birth pride and seek out a pride to take over. Therefore, the males in a pride are often brothers or half-brothers. Males within the same pride will not usually fight each other over breeding rights to a female. It is to their advantage not to fight these other animals that are often their relatives. However, males of the same pride will join together to fight strange males.

Males in a pride may be overthrown as frequently as every 3 years. While both sexes will defend the pride's territory, the males are usually more aggressive.

While pride members share a common territory and greet each other in a friendly manner when they meet, not all of the pride members may be seen in the same place at the same time. Pride members are often scattered over the pride's territory in smaller groups. The average size of a pride's territory is 40-50 square miles.

Territories are scent marked with urine, feces, and head rubbing. Roaring may also have a territorial function. Claw marking on trees and other 'signposts' may also play an important role in marking territories. While urine marking is mainly a male behavior, both sexes perform the "scuffing ceremony," in which the lion rakes the ground 2-30 times with the hind feet, with or without urinating.

While many lions live in established prides, there are lions that are "nomadic". These nomadic groups tend to consist of young animals seeking a new pride to join. Defeated males will also join nomadic groups. While established prides generally stay within the confines of their territory, nomadic groups may wander and exhibit a tendency to follow the wandering herds of game.

Predation:
Generally, if the prey cannot be caught within a chase of 150-300 feet, the lion tires and gives up. However, there have been reports of lions chasing prey for up to 1500 feet.

Females usually do the hunting and will often hunt in groups. One "team" will circle around and get in front of the prey. A second team will then scare the prey, causing it to run into the first team of lions. Not all hunts are successful, but a group has a much better chance of successfully capturing prey than does a lone hunting lion.

Lions are most active at night. Occasionally they will hunt during the day.

Breeding & care of young:
Lions reach sexual maturity at 2 - 4 years of age, but often continue to grow until they are 5 years old. Gestation is 3.5 months, and although a mother can have anywhere from one to 5 cubs in a litter, a typical litter will have two to three cubs. Cubs generally weigh less than 5 pounds at birth.

Births can occur year round, but generally, all of the lions in a pride will give birth at about the same time. All of the females in a pride will help care for the cubs. A female will allow another female's offspring to nurse from her.

In the wild, a cub's chances of surviving to age 2 may be as low as one in five. Hyenas and leopards may prey on cubs or debilitated adults. Infanticide by male lions has only been directly observed in a few cases when males took over new territories. Otherwise, males are usually tolerant of the young in their pride.

Cubs begin to take part in kills at 11 months of age, but are still dependent on adults for food up to 16 months. They are probably not capable of surviving on their own until they are closer to 2 years of age.