Lion - Panthero leo

Genus:      Panthero
Species:   P. leo
Kingdom:  Animalia
Phylum:    Chordata
Class:       Mammalia
Order:       Carnivora
Family:      Felidae

The Lion - Panthera leo is a mammal of the family Felidae and one of four "big cats" in the panthera genus. The lion is the second largest living cat, after the tiger. The male lion, easily recognized by his mane, weighs between 150-225 Kg (330-500 lb)and females (lioness) average 120-150 kg (260-330 lb). In the wild, lions live for around 10–14 years, while in captivity they can live over 20 years. To reproduce, the lions mate for long periods of time.

Manes

The first lions were presumed to have been maneless. Until around 10 000 years ago, maneless forms seem to have persisted in Europe, and possibly the New World. The maned form may have appeared between 320 000 to 190 000 years ago. This maned form may have had a selective advantage that enabled it to expand and replace the range of earlier maneless forms throughout Africa and western Eurasia by historic times. The mane has evolved due to sexually selective pressure driving the trait to an exaggerated point where it no longer serves any other function. The trait has reached the point where cost of maintaining the mane has begun to outweigh its benefits. In fact, lions with particularly large manes often have trouble with thermoregulation.

In the past scientists believed that the "distinct" sub specific status of some subspecies could be justified by their external morphology, like the size of their mane. This morphology was used to identify them, like the Barbary lion and Cape lion. However, now it is known that various extrinsic factors influence the color and size of a lion’s mane, like the ambient temperature. The cooler ambient temperature in e.g. European and North American zoos can result in heavy mane. Therefore, the heavy mane is an inappropriate marker for identifying subspecies.

Behaviour

Lions are predatory carnivores who live in family groups, called prides. The family consists of related females, their cubs of both sexes, and one or more males (often brothers) who mate with the adult females. Although it was once thought that females did most of the hunting in the pride, it is now known that males contribute to hunting. All male lions display hunting skills while they have yet to capture a pride of their own. Even males who have captured a pride of their own may still hunt. The frequency of hunting by male lions who have captured a pride is influenced by the terrain and available prey. Males in more wooded environments hunt for themselves far more frequently than males on the open savannah. Additionally, males appear to prefer buffalo as prey where females appear to prefer smaller prey such as the Wildebeest and zebra. Regardless of who kills the prey, the male usually eats his fill first with the rest of the pride staying at a respectful distance.

Both males and females will defend the pride against intruders. Typically, males will not tolerate outside males, and females will not tolerate outside females. Males are expelled from the pride or leave on their own when they reach maturity. The male lion is a superb master and defender of his pride and territory.

When a new male (or a coalition) takes over a pride and ousts the previous master(s), the conquerors often kill any remaining cubs. This is explained by the fact that the females would not become fertile and receptive until the cubs grow up or die. The male lions reach maturity at about 3 years of age and are capable of taking over another pride at 4-5 years old. They begin to age (and thus weaken) at around 8. This leaves a short window for their children to be born and mature, the fathers have to procreate as soon as they take over the pride.

Sometimes a female may defend her and the ousted male's children from the new master, but such actions are rarely successful.

Attacks on Humans

The Mfuwe and Tsavo incidents did bear some similarities. The lions in both the incidents were all larger than normal, lacked manes and seemed to suffer from tooth decay. Some have speculated that they might belong to an unclassified species of lion, or that they may have been sick and could not have easily caught prey.

There have also been recorded attacks on humans by lions in captivity; tigers are statistically much more likely to attack humans in captivity. Wild lions are also much less likely to attack humans than wild tigers are.

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