THE GREAT LION

If we are talking about  safari to Africa,one animal immediately comes  to our minds LION.This is on everybody's list of animals to see. This charm is no doubt due to the size and awesome power of this large wild cat and its hunting style.

INTRODUCTION

Lion is the most powerful and aggressive animal.they have heavy ,strong and muscular body .Their  canines are 2.3 inches long and their claws are big and loaded with sharp nails to kill their prey.Their body is heavy but they can run at the speed of 70 kilometer per hour and continue it for 2 to 3.5 mile.

PRIDE AND SOCIAL LIFE

The lion is the only truly social member of the cat family, with prides typically consisting of related females (normally sisters and aunts) and their offspring. Male cubs are ejected from the pride when they approach maturity, whereas female cubs stay on as a second or third generation. Mothers help to raise one another's offspring.These prides are usually lorded over by adult males which may also be related.

The males lions defend a territory larger in size than the home range of the lionesses and very often rule over two or more prides.This arrangement is, however, subject to much variability, and the more we learned about lion ecology the more permutations come to light. It seems also to be true, that population dynamics  along with other behaviours  differ among lions from one region to another. In areas where lion populations are hemmed-in by fences, human settlements or agriculture pride dynamics may be altered radically as dominant males are either in control for abnormally long periods or are killed on a regular basis. As males with too long a tenure may eventually mate with their own daughters, while repeated changes of pride dominance caused by regular mortalities, results in a high rate of infanticide(killing the cubs of the pride).

DIET

Lions are the super-predators of Africa, able to capture prey from tiny elephant-shrews to immature elephants. By and large zebra, wildebeest and buffalo are the favoured prey, but this depends upon the size of the pride. Only e, large prides will tackle buffalo, and even then males are often called upon (literally) to deliver the killing bite. A buffalo bull is a huge and powerful animal averaging 800kg, but when it is down, it can provide food for a week or more. A pride will walk past a group of feeding zebras and target a lone giraffe. Prey is also seasonal in many places, such that the lions of Kenya's Masai Mara have a glut of migratory wildebeest between July and November but then have to survive of wily warthogs and agile gazelles for the rest of the year.One reason for being in a pride is not only to be tackling large prey but also to defend it.

ENEMIES

The Hyena is the worst enemy of the lion, and large clans of these carnivores are sometimes able to steals the big cat's prey.These adaptable animals(Hyena) are highly organised team-workers in their own right. Since any predator has to avoid injury if it is to survive, lions usually take the easiest available prey preferring a weak zebra foal to a vigorous stallion.Lions derive a large part of their diet from scavenging or pirating meal from smaller or solitary carnivore (cheetah are the most victimised , and this is why leopards take their prey up into trees).