The lion belongs to the Felidae family and is a carnivore. It is considered the king of the jungle for its imposing characteristics, although this name has not received it for its size, since in this sense it is surpassed by the tiger, thus remaining the second largest feline. It is an animal that lives most of its life in a herd and lionesses usually give birth to a young every two years.
His legend became very big especially thanks to the Disney movie ‘The Lion King’. There are people who confuse it with the tiger but they are animals that do not coexist since the first lives in Africa and the second in India, and therefore they inhabit different continents.
What does the lion eat?
Physically the lion has a mane that covers its neck and face. Lionesses do not have a mane. The male lion is about 3 meters, the female is smaller (1.75 meters).
Their life expectancy is between 14 and 20 years. With cubs, there is higher mortality because they are the last to eat, and for another very curious reason since lions kill cubs when taking leadership of a new pride.
There are two hypotheses about infanticide among lions, one is that by killing cubs that are not of their offspring, the lioness becomes fertile again for the male, the other is the need to recognize their own young, which is why they kill the females. strangers. The first theory has been discarded, being supplanted by the second. The lionesses can defend their young when there are several lionesses with cubs and thus prevail over the lions.
Recent data have discovered that lions practice homosexuality, which is normal for them. As for where the lion lives, they live in areas of Africa, India and Asia. Currently, there are only 8 subspecies, of the 12 exhibited in records.
LION FEEDING
The lions’ diet is meat-based, which makes them predators. Among the animals that usually hunt is the Wildebeest, which is a ruminant with an appearance between ox and horse, zebras, buffalo, impalas, and deer. They can also hunt humans when they are excessively hungry.
The hunt is in charge of lionesses, and they usually do it in a herd. When they have food, the female is the one who eats before everyone else, then the lion follows, and finally the cubs. Sometimes when the lion is very hungry it will feed first, following the females and young.
It is believed that not having a mane makes it less difficult for lionesses to hunt their prey. When lions do, the mane, in addition to getting in the way, heats up, increasing its temperature and causing greater energy expenditure, which is somewhat uncomfortable. The mane also does not help when hiding from their prey.
The role of lionesses is really important since they are in charge of hunting. In this way, the lionesses feed the pride without forgetting that they are in charge of taking care of the cubs.
The fact of hunting in a group makes it easy for them to hunt larger animals, it must also be said that they are cautious when dealing with very large animals, for example, the giraffe, as they can be injured during combat. Regarding their hydration, after eating they come to drink for about 20 minutes or satisfy their need for water from the moisture of the blood of their prey, something really interesting.
