Kruger National Park Game
Information
Lion Facts by
David Meisel
| Latin name: Panthera
leo
Weights and weight records:
The average adult female
weighs 160 kg. A really large female will reach 200 kg. The average adult
male weighs 230 kg, with really large males reaching 280kg. The heaviest
recorded wild lion in South Africa was a man-eating lion that was shot,
just south of the Kruger National Park. He weighed 313kg. The heaviest
living lion today, if he is still alive, is one that lives in a Canadian
zoo weighing at 366kg. The World Record is 375kg!
Lifespan:
On average, the females live
for 17 years and the males 15. The oldest lion that I've heard of was a
male in a Zoo in Sri Lanka that reached the age of 26 years. Lions living
in Zoo's don't have the stress of defending their territories against other
males and don't have to hunt for themselves, which could possibly be the
reason for living a longer life span. |
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Feeding and temperature
control:
The females hunt more than
the males do. They are also more successful at hunting as they have a better
camouflage and are far more patient. Mature male lions are often seen by
their prey from long distances, especially if they have full dark manes.
The males are very capable of hunting and will often join the hunt when
it involves large prey such as buffalo or even rhino and young elephant
where extra weight and power is needed to pull down such large animals.
Once a kill has been made the males will often take over. The males being
stronger and larger will get more to eat, leaving the females to feed off
the scraps or nothing at all. A big male lion will very easily eat 20kg
of meat! It can eat equivalent to 10% of its own body mass. Once a lion
has eaten as much as it can, it starts to breathe very heavily. With the
stomach being so full, it puts pressure on the ribcage, making breathing
more difficult. The heavy breathing cools down the lion and slows its metabolism
down as well. On a full stomach they can go 4 days quite comfortably without
having to hunt again. The under-part of the lions' belly is very light
in colour, almost white and when their bellies are full they will often
lay down on their backs exposing the lighter colour to the sun. The light
colour absorbs less heat from the sun, thus keeping them cooler, especially
in areas with limited shade. Lying on their backs also helps with the uncomfortable
pressure off their full stomachs. On a hot day lions will often lick the
pads of their feet, especially the front feet and then turn them upwards
to cool them down in the breeze.
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Running Speed:
From standstill too sprinting,
a lion can reach a speed of close on 80km/h in just 3 seconds! It can run
at this speed for 300 - 400 meters.
Interesting Lion Theory
In many game reserves in
Africa there are over-populations of lion and what is often noticeable
is how many of the pregnant females are giving birth to more male cubs
than females. On average a mother will give birth to three cubs, normally
2 females and 1 male, but in over-populated areas this is often the reverse
with the mother giving birth to 2 males and 1 female cub. Over a period
of time as the population increases, there will be far too many males.
At the age of about 3 and a half years these males will be forced out of
their prides by their parents and then start living a nomadic life until
they are old enough to fight for their own territories. |
Competition between the males
is very tough with there being so many of them in the same area and not
enough space, resulting in more fighting and thus an increase in the male
mortality rate. Gradually the male lion population will drop, leaving only
the strong and healthy ones behind. At the same time, with there being
so few female cubs, this will also slow the population growth as there
are now fewer females to give birth to their own young in the future. So
nature seems to control its own animal numbers is some way or another.
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About the Author - I am an
ex-game ranger from South Africa. I have 2 awesome blogs packed with information
on all sorts of wildlife in Africa. I also talk about encounters with dangerous
game while doing bush walks. Visit my Blogs to find out more: www.safari-stories.blogspot.com
and www.southafrican-wildlife.blogspot.com |
