Kibira
Animals
African Lion
Class: Mammal
Geographical Region: Africa
- Our Animals
- Distribution & Habitat
- Description & Behaviour
- Reproduction
- Diet
- Threats & Conservation
- Interesting information
Our Animals
LEVI
Born: 2 November 1999, Mogo Zoo, NSW
Personality: Currently the dominant male, very fiery personality.
Position: Leroy’s brother, Zinzi and Inkosi’s father
Deceased: Read the blog entry.
LEROY
Born: 2 November 1999, Mogo Zoo, NSW
Personality: Larger than Levi, but much more docile
Position: Levi’s brother
TIOMBE ("shy")
Born: 18 April 2004, Auckland Zoological Park, NZ
Personality: Very relaxed and easygoing
Position: Zinzi and Inkosi’s mother
KIBIRA("powerful")
Born: 18 April 2004, Auckland Zoological Park, NZ
Personality: Often very grumpy
Position: Tiombe’s sister
KIAMBA ("courageous")
Born: 21 January 2004, Adelaide Zoo
Personality: Very grumpy and growly, watches everything intently, loves to chase rabbits
ZALIKA("well born")
Born: 4 March 2004, Auckland Zoological Park, NZ
Personality: Very friendly, loves stalking people.
Position: Half sister to Tiombe and Kibira.
ZINZI ("courage")
Born: 19 September 2007, Monarto Zoo
Personality: Slightly grumpy
Position: son of Levi and Tiombe, brother of Inkosi
Deceased: Read the blog entry.
INKOSI ("king")
Born: 19 September 2007, Monarto Zoo
Personality: Fairly tame and friendly
Position: son of Levi and Tiombe, brother of Zinzi
Distribution & Habitat
African Lions are now found only south of the Sahara Desert in Africa. They live from the rich grasslands and light woodland of eastern Africa to the more arid areas of the Kalahari Desert.
Description & Behaviour
Lions are the only social cat, living in family groups called prides. Prides may include up to four males, a dozen females and their young. Young males are chased out of the pride as they approach sexual maturity and may form small bachelor groups.
Females share the hunting and babysitting duties, whilst the main duty of the males is to protect territory, females and cubs from other male lions.
Powerfully built, males can reach over 3m in length and can be 1.2m in height at the shoulder. Average male weight is from 150-240kg. The females are smaller, weighing around 110-150kg.
The head of the male lion is one of the most widely recognized animal symbols in human culture. The female lacks the male's thick mane, which would impede her ability to camouflage when stalking the prey.
Females do 85-90% of the hunting for their pride, being smaller, swifter and more agile than the males. Males do hunt but their mane is heavy and conspicuous, making it harder for them to hide. It also contributes to overheating during exertion.
Females can reach speeds of 59 km/h but can only do so for short bursts. Because they hunt in open spaces, cooperative hunting increases the likelihood of a successful hunt. Teamwork also enables them to defend their kills more easily against other large predators
Lions most often roar at night and can be heard over 8 kilometers away. Lions have the loudest roar of any big cat and can roar from any position, even while running. Other vocalisations include coughing, snarling, hissing, purring, woofing and grunting.
Battle at Kruger is an amateur wildlife video that depicts an unfolding confrontation between a herd of Cape Buffalo, a small pride of lions, and a pair of crocodiles.
Reproduction
Gestation lasts about 100-110 days. Usually 1—4 cubs about 500gms in weight are born.
Zoo lions may live up to 25 years, while wild lions live about 15 years.
Diet
Lions have a very varied diet. It includes small animals such as rabbits occasionally even very large animals such as young elelphants. Common prey animals include wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, giraffe (mainly calves), warthogs, impala and other antelope and gazelles.
Lions need 5-7 kg of meat per day. They are able to eat much more than this, in which case they will not eat again for a few days.
Threats & Conservation
Estimates range from 16,000 to 30,000 lions alive today.
Like lion numbers, habitat for lions has declined over the past two decades. Since the 1960s, the human population, land cultivation and numbers of livestock have steadily increased in areas lions are found.
In India, the lion is Critically Endangered, with perhaps 300 animals remaining in a sanctuary in the Gir forest.
Interesting information
- A lion is a digitigrade (toe walker), meaning its heel does not touch the ground.
- The relationship between lions and Spotted Hyenas in areas where they coexist is unique in its complexity and intensity. Lions and spotted hyenas are both apex predators which feed on the same prey, and are therefore in direct competition with one another. As such, they will often fight over and steal each others' kills. Though hyenas are popularly assumed to be opportunistic scavengers profiting from the lion's hunting abilities, it is quite often the case that the reverse is true.
- Despite the recorded incidents of attacks on humans, lions enjoy positive depiction in popular culture as creatures that appear strong, but gentle at the same time. The most consistent depiction is in keeping with their image of "king of the jungle" or "king of the beasts", hence lions are popular symbols of royalty and stateliness and a symbol of bravery.
- The earliest recorded depictions of lions can be found in some of the earliest paleolithic human cave art possibly dating to 32,000 years ago in the Chauvet Cave in the Ardèche region of southern France.
- Found first in Ancient Egypt, the sphinx, which had the head and shoulders of a human and the body of a lioness, represented the goddess who was the protector of the pharaohs.
- The war goddess Sekhmet typically was depicted as woman with a lioness head or, just as a lioness.
- Lions have been widely used in sculpture and statuary to provide a sense of majesty and awe, especially on public buildings.
- The most notable lion of Ancient Greek mythology was the Nemean lion, killed barehanded by Heracles, who subsequently bore the pelt as an invulnerable magic cloak. This lion is also said to be represented by the constellation of Leo, and also the sign of the Zodiac.
- Christian was a lion originally purchased by Australians John Rendall and Anthony 'Ace' Bourke from Harrods department store of London in 1969 and ultimately reintroduced to the wild.
- Lions are known in many cultures as the king of animals, which can be traced to the classical book Physiologus. In his fables, the famed Greek story teller Aesop utilized the lion's symbolism of power and strength in The Lion and the Mouse and Lion's Share.
- The best known Biblical account featuring lions comes from the Book of Daniel (chapter 6), where Daniel is thrown into a den of lions and miraculously survives.
- In Christian tradition, Mark the Evangelist, the author of the second gospel is symbolized by a lion - a figure of courage and monarchy.
- Lions are not native to China, yet appear in the art of China. Many Chinese believe lions protect humans from evil spirits, hence the Chinese New Year Lion dance to scare away demons and ghosts. Chinese guardian lions are frequently used in sculpture in traditional Chinese architecture.
- Lions feature prominently in the Tibetan culture with a pair of Snow Lions seen on the Tibetan flag. The Snow Lions are mythical creatures that symbolizes fearlessness, unconditional cheerfulness, east, and the Earth element.
- Singh is an ancient Indian vedic name meaning "Lion" (Asiatic Lion), dating back over 2000 years to ancient India. The Sikhs have adopted the name "Singh" and today it is also used by over 20 million Sikhs worldwide
- The lion is symbolic for the Sinhalese, Sri Lanka's ethnic majority; the term derived from the Indo-Aryan Sinhala, meaning the "lion people" or "people with lion blood", while a sword wielding lion is the central figure on the modern national flag of Sri Lanka.
- Singapore derives its name from the Malay words singa (lion) and pura (city). Apparently a 14th century Sumatran Malay prince arrived there after a thunderstorm and spotted an animal his chief minister identified as a lion. Recent studies indicate that lions have never lived there, and the beast seen was likely a tiger.
- The lion holds historical significance for English heraldry and symbolism. The Three Lions was a symbol for Richard the Lionheart, and is still worn by both the England national football team and England cricket team.
- National currencies of three countries in Europe are named after the lion.
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios have used a lion as their logo since 1924. Five different lions have played Leo the Lion, the lion seen at the start of every MGM film.
- Born Free is the bestselling book, based on the true story of the Kenyan lioness Elsa, and the efforts of Joy Adamson and her game-warden husband George in training the lioness for release back into the wild.
- The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) is a movie set in 1898. It is based on the true story of two lions in Africa that killed 130 people over a nine month period during the construction of a railroad bridge in Kenya.
- In 2005, the Kenyan lioness Kamuniak captured international attention when she adopted oryx calves. She fought off predators and lion prides who attempted to eat her charges. Kamuniak's story was captured in the Animal Planet special "Heart of a Lioness".
- A modified heraldic lion is the emblem of Australian car company Holden, an iconic Australian brand.