Scientific Name
Panthera leo
Common Names
Classification
Close Relatives
These sandy coloured carnivores are amazing African animals. A popular animal, made famous and lessened the previous ferocious reputation by the movie “The Lion King”.They are large animals, the males standing at 1.2m tall, and the females 90cm tall. The male lion weighs a solid 190 kilograms, and the female 130 kilograms. Apart form the size difference, you can tell the difference between male and female lions by manes. Only the male lion has a mane, which can range from sandy brown to almost black in colour.
They hunt together in groups (called a pride), with many lions working cooperatively to bring down one large animal.
The male lions then take what they wish from the hunt. Any cubs get the leftovers. Lions often feed on zebras, wildebeest and can amazingly take down large animals such as giraffes, hippos and even young elephants. At the other extreme, they will also eat mammals the size of mice.
Feat
Did you know: Although the male lion is quite a bit larger than the female lion, the female lion does most of the hunting.
Did you know: The lion is the largest African carnivore.
Do you know of a feat we should include here? We’d love to hear about it. E-mail us at info@africanfauna.com