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The lion has long been known as the King of the jungle and rightly so. Being the largest predator, it has no enemies apart from man. It is seen as a symbol of courage and nobility in many African states and tribes, especially among the Maasai community who take pride in single handed killing of a lion during rites of passage.

Physical Characteristics

A lion (Photo:Stolz, Gary M. - USFWS)

The lions are the biggest cats in Africa and second to tigers in the world. They are the only cats to exhibit distinct sexual dimorphism with males being larger than the females. The males weigh between 150 kg to 250 kg while females weigh between 120 to 182kg. This sexual dimorphism is thought to be brought about by the different roles that the sexes play in the pride, with the females being hunters and the males being the territory protectors and warding off other males.

Habitat

Lions live in Savannah grasslands, and woodlands. They once ranged over vast areas in the African, European and Asian continents as far as southern India and Sri Lanka. However, their conflicts with humans have reduced this range drastically. Today, they are only found in sub-saharan Africa and north west India.

Behaivor

Lions have adopted a social system with division of labor among the pride. Once males conquer a territory, they guard against other males and ensure the growth of their cubs. While the females provide food in the pride by hunting. A pride usually consists of 2 – 12 related females and their cubs and a coalition of 2 -6 males who mate with the females to produce offspring. Male lions patrol the boundaries of their large territory leaving sent marks of urine and other secretions that warn off intruders. Male in a coalition roar together to signal their strength, to proclaim ownership of territory and to intimidate potential rival coalition.

Threats

The biggest threat to lion survival is th increasing human population and their behaivoural change. The past nomadic lifestyles of human communities encouraged co-existance and large populations of lions. However, with the adoption of agriculture, these communities now require larger parcels of land for their farming activities, consequently increasing competition for land.

Conservation Status

Lions are known as vulnerable species. Their survival is currently threatened and depends on the actions that we take in the next few years. Despite the alarm sounded by many conservation bodies, the lion is still being hunted down due to the increased contact by the increasing human population.

We can only hope, that in the near future, communities will be encourage to engage in participatory conservation.