The African Lion (Panthera leo)

The African lion, the “King of beasts”  is the largest of cats in Africa varying in colour from pale tawny to dark brown. The adult male has  a thick woolly mane that can vary in colour and length. The African Lion is found mostly distributed south of the Sahara desert and mainly restricted to large savanna type conservation areas. An adult male can grow to a shoulder height of up to 1,2m(47 in) and weigh around 220 – 250kg (500lbs). As carnivores, their food source consists mainly of medium to large mammals which are caught and killed through skilled stalking and ambush. A daily average of 5-7kg of meat is consumed. When charging down it’s prey, lions can reach speeds of up to 80kph (50mph) with most of the hunting conducted during the cooler hours of the day or night.

Did you know that on average 3 cubs are born after a gestation period of about 110 days and lion cubs are born with their eyes closed for the first 7-14 days and are pretty helpless for the first 2-3 weeks of their lives. A lioness is very protective over her litter and will not hesitate to attack an “intruder” venturing too close to her cubs.

When next on a Big Game safari and you are fortunate enough to encounter a pride of lions have a look at the size of the pride and how they interact with each other. You will notice that the ‘core’ of the pride is predominately made up of females/lionesses and their off-spring with one or more adult males/lions around. It’s a known fact that the size of the pride is dictated by prey availability in an area with the females/lionesses doing most of the hunting.

How about this… a lion can grow as old as 15 years in the wild and up to 20 years in captivity. Their roar can be heard up to 8kms(5miles) away. That is pretty awesome !!

Compiled by Sukulu Safaris CC information centre