Facts about lions – king of the jungle.
Many travelers and writers always asked a question the what are 10 interesting facts about lions and here today Mega Wild Safaris has all your answers. A lion is one animal that everyone wants to see on a safari. Lions are the kings of the jungle because of their power and strength. They fear no other animals. Lions are Africa’s largest carnivores and the most sociable (not-solitary) of the large cats living in loosely structures called the pride of typically 5-15 individuals. Large Pride goes up to 30 individuals.
Only adult males carry manes of long hair extending from the sides of the face on the neck to impress female lions and intimidate other rivalry male lions. Habitat. Lions occur naturally in most woodland and grassland habitats.
- Group organization.
Most associable individuals. Females form the stable social unit in pride and some live as nomads and won’t tolerate outside females. Membership only comes with birth and goes with death. At around 2-3 years, young males are excluded from their maternal pride.
These excluded lions live as lonely nomads or form groups to ease hunting because coordinated hunting helps lions be more successful in bringing down big prey. Pairs are often males excluded from related birth pride.
Some lions, however, take the role of parenting the cubs and these are always the older lions who can’t do the hunting. Hunters are the first to consume the prey and others follow. Sharing food within the family, monitoring and maintaining territories, protecting the young, and individual insurance against injured are all done by every member of the group.
Facts about lions – king of the jungle.
Defense.
Both females and males defend the pride against intruders but male lions are better suited for this purpose due to their stockier, powerful build. The most powerful lead the fights while others always lag behind.
- Hunting and food.
Lions being carnivores, their prey consists mainly of medium to large mammals particularly ungulates weighing 150-190kgs including buffalos, giraffe, plains zebra. Lions also hunt common warthogs but mainly antelope species.
They also take on small prey such as hares, rodents, birds, and reptiles. Domestic livestock also contributes to their diet. Lions usually avoid fully grown adult elephants, rhinoceroses, and hippopotamuses.
They drive other predators like leopards, cheetahs, and spotted hyenas and take on their kills. Female lions do most of the hunting. When hunting, there is a need to be close to the prey before the attack by hiding in the shadows, to reduce their visibility.
Many kills happen in the night with the help of night vision which helps lions to see and stalk prey in the dark. The lion’s attack is powerful and usually fights to pull the prey down killing it by a strangling bite to the throat also by closing the prey`s mouth and nostrils with its powerful jaws to suffocate it.
An adult female lion requires 5kg of meat per day while males 7kg. Young lions participate in active hunting at 2years but they start stalking at 3-months to one year. Lions defend their kills from scavengers such as vultures and hyenas. Lion also readily scavenge when the opportunity arises.
- Reproduction facts of a lion.
There is no fixed breeding season, although it usually happens during the rainy season. A female lion will mate with more than one male when she is on heat. The average gestation period is 110days giving birth to litters of between 1-4 cubs weighing 1.5kgs in dens, thickets, reed-beds, caves, or some other sheltered areas usually away from the pride. She will often hunt alone while the cubs are still helpless, staying close to them.
Cubs are born blind and eyes open around 7days after birth. She will move her cubs to new sites several times a month to avoid a buildup of scent attracting predators and male lions which often kill the cubs to mate with the female. The mother will not bring the cubs to the group until they are 6-8 weeks old but this will often happen earlier of other females give birth at the same time to ease the nurturing of the cubs
Did you know?
A male lion can mate up to 100 times a day in a process that lasts only about 17seconds. They can keep this up for around 4-5days.
A lioness may go into false estrus if she has cubs so that if a male lion arrives, she diverts him to mating other than killing the cubs to mate with her.
Male lions usually bite the back of a female’s neck when mating because, in all-male cats, the penis has spines that point backward, so during withdrawal, it causes pain which can result in bites from the female.
Female lions usually roll their backs in soil and grass after mating to remove the scent of the male in case it meets another male.
Lion’s socialization occurs through a number of behaviors. The common peaceful gestures are head rubbing and social licking. Head rubbing, nuzzling the forehead, face, and neck against another appears to be a form of greeting and it is commonly seen when the animals meet which has taken a long minus meeting.
In Uganda, lions are found in Kidepo valley national park with over 132 individuals, Queen Elizabeth national park, Ishasha tree-climbing lions, Murchison falls national park, lion tracking research among others. Book a safari tour to Uganda and experience life with these sociable lions.
Adventuring Murchison Falls National Park with Mega Wild Safaris Uganda
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