Lion
All rights reserved.
No publication without written permission of the photographer.
Location: Botswana
Photographer: © Pia Dierickx
African lions live in plains or savanna habitat with a large prey base and sufficient cover available. In these optimal habitats, lions are the second most abundant large predator, after spotted hyenas.
Lions can also live, with wider ranges, in most habitats except in tropical rainforests and in deserts.
Lions are large cats with short, tawny coats, white underparts and long tails with a black tuft at the end. They are sexually dimorphic and male lions are the only cats with manes. Three year-old male lions grow manes that vary in color from black to blond. Manes tend to be fuller in open habitats. Adult males typically weigh 180 and females weigh 125 kg on average. The average male height is 1.2 m and the average female height is 1.1 m. Length ranges from 2.4 to 3.3 m and tail length ranges from 0.6 to 1.0 m.
Females are mainly responsible for care of the young. Females nurse their young, but will also nurse the young of their female relatives in the pride if litters are born close together. Cub mortality is lowest when related females in the same pride synchronously reproduce and cross-suckle. Since synchronous reproduction is common in prides, cubs are often raised in crèches where the entire pride helps to raise several litters. (Estes, 1993; Urban and West, 2002.)
Cubs are often left alone for more than one full day by the time they are 5 to 7 months old. This is a particularly vulnerable time for the cubs to be attacked by predators (often hyenas). Hungry mothers occasionally abandon weak cubs that can not keep up with the pride. (Estes, 1993.)
Cubs have brown spots on a grayish coat until the age of three months; spots may remain on stomach, especially in east Africa. Albinism does occur in some populations, but there are no published records of melanism (black fur) in lions. (Alden et al., 1998; Cat Specialist Group, 1996; Estes, 1993; Urban and West, 2002.)
(http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html)
No publication without written permission of the photographer.
Location: Botswana
Photographer: © Pia Dierickx
African lions live in plains or savanna habitat with a large prey base and sufficient cover available. In these optimal habitats, lions are the second most abundant large predator, after spotted hyenas.
Lions can also live, with wider ranges, in most habitats except in tropical rainforests and in deserts.
Lions are large cats with short, tawny coats, white underparts and long tails with a black tuft at the end. They are sexually dimorphic and male lions are the only cats with manes. Three year-old male lions grow manes that vary in color from black to blond. Manes tend to be fuller in open habitats. Adult males typically weigh 180 and females weigh 125 kg on average. The average male height is 1.2 m and the average female height is 1.1 m. Length ranges from 2.4 to 3.3 m and tail length ranges from 0.6 to 1.0 m.
Females are mainly responsible for care of the young. Females nurse their young, but will also nurse the young of their female relatives in the pride if litters are born close together. Cub mortality is lowest when related females in the same pride synchronously reproduce and cross-suckle. Since synchronous reproduction is common in prides, cubs are often raised in crèches where the entire pride helps to raise several litters. (Estes, 1993; Urban and West, 2002.)
Cubs are often left alone for more than one full day by the time they are 5 to 7 months old. This is a particularly vulnerable time for the cubs to be attacked by predators (often hyenas). Hungry mothers occasionally abandon weak cubs that can not keep up with the pride. (Estes, 1993.)
Cubs have brown spots on a grayish coat until the age of three months; spots may remain on stomach, especially in east Africa. Albinism does occur in some populations, but there are no published records of melanism (black fur) in lions. (Alden et al., 1998; Cat Specialist Group, 1996; Estes, 1993; Urban and West, 2002.)
(http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html)