African Lion

Lions are at the top of the food chain and mainly eat medium-to-large hooved animals, like gazelles, warthogs, zebras, wildebeests, giraffes, and even elephants. If they cannot catch these large animals, they might eat smaller creatures like birds, rodents, and eggs. When food is hard to find, lions sometimes take food from cheetahs or hyenas.

African lions are ambush predators. This means they sneak up close to their prey before attacking. They can run fast but only for a short distance, so they can’t chase after animals like impalas or gazelles for long. When hunting large animals, lions often work together in groups, but when going after smaller ones, they usually hunt alone.

At the Zoo, lions eat a specialized ground carnivore diet and are offered bones for enrichment.

Lions once roamed most of Africa, parts of Asia, and even Europe. However, they have now disappeared from over 85% of the places they used to inhabit. Today, most African lions can only be found in scattered and smaller areas south of the Sahara Desert. There is also a very small group of lions in the Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary in India.

Although known as the “king of the jungle”, lions actually live in grasslands, scrublands, and plains habitats where there is enough cover and plenty of prey. They can even be found in smaller numbers in semi-desert and forested areas. 

Adult lions have no natural predators, but hyenas are known to kill lion cubs, juveniles, or weaker adults when defending kills or scavenging meals. If left unprotected, lion cubs could become vulnerable to outside male lions or other large predators, like leopards. 

Over the past 75 years, the African lion population has dropped by 90%. This decline is mainly due to habitat loss and conflicts with humans, especially related to losing livestock.

Lions are large cats with short, light brown fur and white bellies. They are the only cat with a tuft of hair on the end of their tail, which is usually dark brown or black. Male lions start to grow their manes around nine to twelve months old, but it takes until they are five or six years old for the mane to be fully developed. The color of a lion's mane can range from light tan to black, and it typically becomes longer and darker as the lion ages. Studies have shown that female lions tend to prefer males with bigger and darker manes. The mane has several purposes: it helps protect the lion during fights, allows other lions to identify their gender from a distance, and shows how strong and fit the lion is overall.

Lions breed year-round, with a peak during the rainy season. After a pregnancy that lasts about three and a half months, a lioness can have between one and six cubs. At birth, the cubs weigh around two to four pounds. They are born away from the main group, or pride, and are introduced back to the pride when they are about six weeks old.

When they're born, the cubs are blind and completely helpless, covered in a thick grayish fur with brown spots that fade as they grow up. They start to eat meat when they are three months old but still drink their mother’s milk for about six months. Male lions don’t help take care of the cubs, but they usually do not mind their playful behavior. The female lions in the pride work together to raise the cubs, nursing each other's young and protecting them from danger.

Lions are social animals that communicate in several ways. They use body language, touch, scent, and sounds to express themselves. For example, they have scent glands on their cheeks, lips, forehead, chin, tail, and even between their toes. By leaving their scent behind, lions can mark their territory and attract mates. When lions greet each other, especially those from the same pride, they rub their cheeks, necks, and bodies together.

Grooming one another is another way they strengthen their bonds as a group. A typical lion greeting might include a quick "slap" or wave of a paw to the face to say hello, often paired with some vocal sounds.

Lions are well-known for their roars, which they use for different reasons. They roar to show dominance over their territory, to keep in touch with their pride members, and to attract a mate. Both male and female lions can roar, but female roars are usually softer and higher in pitch. The intensity and duration of roars can vary, and lions in a pride can recognize each other’s roars. Under perfect conditions, a human might hear a lion's roar from as far as five miles away, and lions can probably hear each other from an even greater distance.

Lions are very social animals and usually live in groups called prides. A pride can have one or two adult male lions, several related female lions, and their young cubs. Living in a group helps lions protect themselves, raise their young, and hunt more effectively.