Lion Behavior And Distribution

Why do you think the lion is considered the �king� of the jungle? Moreover, what qualities and characteristics do lions possess that make other animals fear them? These are some of the questions which researchers find very helpful in determining the general characteristics and behavior of lions. The answers to these questions would eventually lead to a better understanding of the lion as these species co-exist with other species in an ecosystem.

The lion is generally a member of the cat family. In fact, it is one of the four big cats in the family Felidae and genus Panthera. Since the lion belongs to the cat family, its traits and characteristics are actually that of a cat's. Moreover, it is the second largest living cat following the tiger. Most lions can go as big as 250 kilograms in weight, especially the male species. The female lions on the other hand can go as big as 130 kilograms.

Lions group together as a pride which consists of approximately 30 lions including males, females, and cubs. Each pride chooses its own territory and protects it from other prides and animals. The males do the guarding of the territory by scent marking trees and howling at night. On the other hand, the females hunt for the whole pride. Usually, female lions live their whole lives within the pride, while the male lions are either killed or ousted put of the pride by other assertive male lions who want to rule the pride.

In the wild, lions can live between 10 to 14 years; while they can more than 20 years in captivity. Continuous fighting for food and survival reduces the life expectancy of the lions in the wild. In reality though, male lions seldom live more than 10 years.
While the lions appear to be a supreme species, they are actually very vulnerable. According to statistics, there has been a population decline of 30-50 percent for the past two decades. To make things worse, this decline is seen to be possibly irreversible; thus the fear of totally losing these species.

The decline in the population is one of the reasons why many parks and reserves are dedicated to the preservation of the lions. In fact, in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, the largest population of lions in all of Africa is hosted. However, the distribution is very fragmented with only two major places where these lions can be found which are the sub-Saharan Africa, and the Gir forest in Northwest India. Regardless of the population that these two identified places contain; sadly the distribution of lions today is disintegrated, contrary to how it was many years back.

With these realizations, a number of laws are drafted for the protection of lions and their sub-species. They may be considered as the greatest predators in the wild, but they definitely deserve to be spared being the prey of human predators in captivity.