Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758)

General Body Structure

The lion is a muscular, broad-chested cat with a short, rounded head, a reduced neck, and round ears; male lions have broader heads.

Fur Coloration

Fur color ranges from light buff to silvery grey, yellowish red, and dark brown, with underparts generally lighter in color. Newborn lions have dark spots that fade as the cub reaches adulthood, though faint spots often remain visible on the legs and underparts.

Tail Features

All lions have a dark, hairy tuft at the end of their tail. In some lions, this tuft hides an approximately 5 mm (0.20 in) long hard "spine" or "spur" made of dermal papillae, and the function of this spur is currently unknown. The tail tuft is not present at birth; it develops around five and a half months of age and is easily identifiable by seven months of age.

Skull Morphology

A lion's skull is very similar to that of a tiger, though the frontal region is usually more depressed and flattened, with a slightly shorter postorbital region and broader nasal openings than a tiger's skull. Due to high amounts of skull variation in both species, only the structure of the lower jaw can reliably be used to tell the two species apart.

Muscle Composition

Skeletal muscles make up 58.8% of a lion's body weight, which is the highest muscle percentage among all mammals. Lions have a high concentration of fast twitch muscle fibres, which lets them produce quick bursts of speed but leaves them with lower stamina.

African Lion Range

African lions live in scattered populations across sub-Saharan Africa.

Preferred Habitat Types

Lions prefer grassy plains, savannahs, river-bordering scrub, and open woodlands with bushes, and they rarely enter closed forests.

Elevation Range

Lions have been recorded up to an elevation of 3,600 m (11,800 ft) on Mount Elgon, and close to the snow line on Mount Kenya.

Savannah Habitat Extent

The majority of African lion habitat is savannahs with an annual rainfall of 300 to 1,500 mm (12 to 59 in), estimated to be at most 3,390,821 km2 (1,309,203 sq mi).

Other African Habitats

Remnant lion populations also exist in tropical moist forests of West Africa and montane forests of East Africa.

Asiatic Lion Current Range

The Asiatic lion now only survives in and around Gir National Park in Gujarat, western India, where its habitat is a mix of dry savannah forest and very dry, deciduous scrub forest.

Historical African Range

Historically, the lion's range in Africa covered most of the central African rainforest zone and the Sahara desert. Lions became extinct in North Africa by the 1960s, except in the southern part of Sudan.

Historical European Range

During the mid-Holocene, around 8,000 to 6,000 years ago, lions expanded their range into Southeastern and Eastern Europe, partially reoccupying the range of the now extinct cave lion. Modern lions were present in Hungary from about 4,500 to 3,200 years Before Present, and in Ukraine from about 6,400 to 2,000 years Before Present. In Greece, lions were common as reported by Herodotus in 480 BC, considered rare by 300 BC, and extirpated by AD 100.

Historical Asian Range Overview

In Asia, lions once ranged across regions where climate conditions supported abundant prey.

West Asian Extirpation Timeline

Lions were present in the Caucasus until the 10th century, lived in the Levant until the Middle Ages, and in Southwest Asia until the late 19th century. By the late 19th century, lions had been extirpated from most of Turkey.

Iran Lion Extinction Records

The last confirmed sighting of a live lion in Iran was in 1942, around 65 km (40 mi) northwest of Dezful, though a lioness corpse was found on the banks of the Karun river in Khuzestan province in 1944.

Historical South Asian Range

Historically, Asian lions ranged from Sind and Punjab in Pakistan to Bengal and the Narmada River in central India.

General Activity Patterns

Lions spend much of their time resting, and are inactive for around twenty hours per day. Though lions can be active at any time, their activity generally peaks after dusk, with a period of socialising, grooming, and defecating. Intermittent activity continues until dawn, when hunting most often occurs.

Daily Activity Time Allocation

On average, lions spend two hours a day walking and fifty minutes eating.

Reproductive Maturity Age

Most lionesses reach reproductive maturity by four years of age.

Mating Cycle Traits

Lions do not mate at a specific time of year, and females are polyestrous. Like other cats, male lions have penile spines that rake the vaginal walls during copulation, which may trigger ovulation. A lioness may mate with more than one male while she is in heat.

Same-Sex Sexual Behavior

Lions of both sexes may participate in group homosexual and courtship activities; males will also head-rub and roll with each other before mounting.

Generation Length

A lion's generation length is around seven years.

Gestation and Litter Basics

The average gestation period is around 110 days. Females give birth to litters of between one and four cubs in a secluded, sheltered den such as a thicket, reed-bed, or cave, usually located away from the pride.

Early Cub Rearing (Pre-Pride Introduction)

While cubs are still helpless, the mother often hunts alone and stays relatively close to the den. Lion cubs are born blind, with their eyes opening around seven days after birth. They weigh 1.2–2.1 kg (2.6–4.6 lb) at birth and are almost helpless; they begin crawling one to two days after birth, and start walking around three weeks of age.

Den Relocation Behavior

To avoid building up scent that would attract predators, the lioness moves her cubs to a new den site several times a month, carrying each cub individually by the nape of the neck.

Pre-Introduction Cub Care Patterns

Reproductive-age lionesses within a pride usually have similar numbers of surviving cubs, which they initially keep hidden. Lionesses without offspring do not help care for the communal litter.

Pride Introduction Timing

Usually, a mother does not rejoin the pride with her cubs until the cubs are six to eight weeks old. Sometimes this introduction to pride life happens earlier, particularly when other lionesses have given birth around the same time.

Initial Cub Adaptation to Pride

When first introduced to the rest of the pride, lion cubs are unconfident around adult lions other than their mother. They soon begin integrating into pride life, playing among themselves or trying to initiate play with adults.

Adult Tolerance of Cubs

Lionesses that have cubs of their own are more likely to tolerate another lioness's cubs than lionesses without cubs. Male tolerance of cubs varies: one male may patiently let cubs play with his tail or mane, while another may snarl and bat cubs away.

Communal Rearing Traits

Pride lionesses often synchronize their reproductive cycles, and practice communal rearing and suckling of young. Cubs nurse indiscriminately from any or all nursing females in the pride.

Benefits of Birth Synchronization

Birth synchronization is advantageous because it leaves cubs growing to roughly the same size with an equal chance of survival, preventing older cubs from dominating sucklings.

Weaning Age

Weaning occurs after six or seven months.

Male Reproductive Lifespan

Male lions reach maturity at around three years of age, and by four to five years old they are capable of challenging and displacing adult males leading another pride. They begin to age and weaken between 10 and 15 years of age at the latest.

Infanticide by New Males

When one or more new males oust the previous males associated with a pride, the victorious new males often kill any existing young cubs. This may happen because females do not become fertile and receptive until their cubs mature or die.

Female Defense of Cubs

Females often fiercely defend their cubs from a usurping male, but are rarely successful unless three or four mothers within the pride join forces against the intruder.

Other Cub Mortality Causes

Cubs also die from starvation, abandonment, and predation by leopards, hyenas and wild dogs.

Juvenile Dispersal Patterns

Male cubs are pushed out of their maternal pride when they reach maturity around two or three years of age, while some females may leave the pride when they reach two years of age. When a new male lion takes over a pride, adolescent lions of both sexes may be evicted.