Lions

Alex Re (00:00): Hello, welcome to On Wildlife. I'm your host Alex Re. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you. We take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week, and I guarantee you you're going to come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. On this episode, I'm going to be talking about one of the most dangerous predators on the planet as the top predators in their ecosystems. They're also one of the most charismatic and lovable animals. So let's take a trip down to Africa to talk about lions.

(00:52): The lion sometimes called the king of beasts, is scientifically classified as panthera Leo. You may also know that Leo is a horoscope sign represented by a lion. It's in the family Feela day, along with all the big cats, smaller wild cats and domestic cats. That's why we call all cats Felines lions are one of the largest cats in the world, second only to the tiger. They're both smaller in size than the liger, which is a hybrid of a lion and a tigris. They're also smaller than some extinct felines like the American lion and the saber tooth. Tiger. Lions are active both during the day and at night, but they're more active at night making them primarily nocturnal animals, and they can live in a few habitats like grasslands, savannahs, open woodlands and shrubland habitats. Historically, they used to live all throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe, but now they're mostly restricted to any parts of Africa.

(01:54): South of the Sahara Desert, a much smaller population of Asiatic. Lions live in India's gear National Park with the total population numbering under 600 individuals, and lions don't live in any tropical forests or jungles in Africa making their nickname King of the Jungle, not really accurate. They have long bodies with a large head and shorter legs than other big cats, and they exhibit sexual dimorphism, meaning that the males and females look different from each other. Males are usually larger than females and they have mains whereas females don't. For those who don't know, a mane is a large amount of fur surrounding the head of a male lion. These mains are one of the defining characteristics of lions and the size and coloration of mains can differ from individual to individual. Maines can make a lion look larger than they are and be used to intimidate rivals or attract mates, and some male lions don't have mains at all.

(02:55): Full-grown males will be about six or seven feet long, excluding their tail standing about four feet tall at the shoulder and weighing between 370 and 500 pounds. Lionesses are smaller with body lengths of about five feet and weighing about 260 to 400 pounds. Lions have short coats of fur that can be yellow, orangeish brown, silvery gray, and dark brown. They also have a tough defer on their tail that can be darker than the color of their hide. Lions have been symbols of courage and strength throughout history, often appearing in art or on armor made to channel those strong qualities. And according to the I U C N red list, the global population of African lions are listed as vulnerable, but regional subpopulations are critically endangered or even extinct. And we'll talk about why that is later on in the episode. Now, like I said in the intro, lions are one of the fiercest predators in the world, and we'll talk about what they eat right when we get back. The science word that I want to tell you about today is chemosynthesis. This is a process that mainly bacteria use. They take chemicals and turn them into organic compounds. This is basically how they make their own food instead of eating or using sunlight.

(04:38): Lions are apex predators that prowl the African Savannah, they prey on animals as small as rodents or small primates like baboons, and also on larger animals like the African buffalo or other hoofed animals like zebras and antelopes. They can also go after giraffes, but they'll really only hunt the young or sick individuals because healthy adults are hard to catch and extremely dangerous because of how big they are. They can take down prey in the size range of 400 to 1200 pounds. Their prey preference can differ depending on where the group also known as the pride is located. Lions will also scavenge for fresh meat or carry-on, and they don't seem to have an issue with stealing food from other scavengers like the African wild dog. Cheetahs or hyenas carry-on just means the bodies of already dead animals, both male and female. Lions are skilled hunters, and depending on the habitat, lions and lioness split up hunting duties differently.

(05:40): In open Savannahs, the lionesses are the ones who hunt for most of the pride's food, and the males often scavenge the remains of the meals that the females hunt. In more wooded areas, the males may hunt more than they would in open areas. Some males don't belong to a pride at all, so they'll hunt for their own food because they're alone, but usually because their prey can be so large. Lions hunt in groups. Lion hunting groups are a force to be reckoned with, but their trips are not usually successful, meaning most of the time they don't come away from the hunt with any food. They get tired pretty quickly and are only quick in short bursts. They're blazing fast though and can run at speeds of 50 miles per hour. Part of the reason why lions aren't always successful with hunting is because the animals in their habitats are extremely well adapted to escaping them.

(06:34): For example, most of the lions prey have an extremely keen sense of smell so they can sense if a lion is near without even seeing them to make the most of their hunts. Lions employ a stealth approach. They use teamwork by fanning out into a semicircle. The weaker lioness help by hurting the prey into the center of the semicircle, where the stronger lioness can make the kill. They stalk prey with the help of cover in nearby vegetation and will chase it down in a quick burst of speed. After a lion catches up to its prey, it goes for the throat and bites the animal until it can no longer breathe. And you don't want to be bitten by a lion because their teeth can be almost four inches long. Some lions will identify which individuals in a herd are weak and single them out to hunt.

(07:25): But after hunts, the teamwork devolves into chaos. As the lions fight over their share of the meal, there's a sort of pecking order established among the pride. And when it comes to who gets first dibs of the kill, it's determined by who has the highest place in that order. The cubs are the last to eat in this pecking order. Lions eat a lot of food at once, gorging themselves, and then resting near the site of their kil to feed. For days, they can eat up to 75 pounds of meat in a single meal, and this will let them rest for up to a week before going back on the hunt. Lions will drink water every day if it's available, but they can go four or five days without getting any water by getting their moisture from the stomachs of their prey. Lions are polygamous, which means that they have multiple mates in a given year.

(08:16): Males breed throughout the year with lioness, usually only breeding with one or two lions from their pride every year. And lions that are in captivity breed more often as they'll only mate once every two years in the wild, but every year in captivity during the mating season, lion pears mate frequently because it stimulates ovulation and it helps the male secure paternity by blocking other males from mating with the same females. After the eggs have been fertilized, the gestation period lasts a little over a hundred days. Then the lions will give birth to a litter of one to six cubs. Most litters have between two and four cubs, though a newborn cub is both helpless and blind making for a difficult start to their lives. Cubs have thick coats of fur with dark spots that disappear as they get older. For the first six or seven months of their lives, they rely on milk from their mothers.

(09:15): They begin to follow their moms around when they reach three months and they start participating in hunting and killing just before they hit a year old. They aren't fully capable of surviving on their own until they're around two years old or even older. Lionesses may nurse their cubs and also other cubs from other lionesses from their pride. There's a high mortality rate among lion cubs. 86% of cubs die in the Serengeti, but the rates of survival increase as the lion reaches the age of two. They face a lot of challenges in their young lives, and males have been known to kill cubs that aren't their own. Lions reach maturity around three or four years of age with some females remaining in the pride after maturing the other. Lions and lionesses are forced out of the pride and they have to find other prides to join or they'll become nomads forced to wander alone.

(10:14): Lions in the wild rarely live past the age of eight to 10 because of injuries sustained by human attacks. Other lion attacks and intended prey. Animals that fought back some predators that prey on lion cubs include hyenas, crocodiles and leopards and large herbivores like buffalo hippos and rhinos may kill lions and their cubs in self-defense in captivity, lions can live to be 25 years old. Lions in captivity have been forced to mate with other species of big cats leading to a few hybrids being born. When a lion and a Tigris breed, they produce a liger, a tiger, and a lions produce, a tigan and a leopard and a lions produce A lein. Hybrids can be problematic though because they often have birth defects and are also infertile. Lions live in groups and this makes them unique among cats as though the only species of cat to live in large groups.

(11:17): Prides may consist of several lions generations along with a few breeding males, and the rest of the pride is made up of cubs. All of the lioness in a pride are related as the female cubs usually stay in the prides they were born in. The average pride size is around 15 individuals, but the smallest ones can be four members, and the largest groups are made up of 35 or more lions. There are often subgroups of lions within each pride, and as we learned a little while ago, there's a pecking order in the pride that determines who gets to eat first and who has the highest standing. Prides have their own defined territories, which are made up of two zones. The first zone is the core area that's heavily defended against intruders, and the second zone is a fringe zone where some pride territories might overlap.

(12:10): The territory can be as small as eight square miles if the prey is readily available, but the range can expand to 250 square miles if prey populations are harder to come by. Once young males leave their pride, they can take over neighboring prides. And when a lion takes over another pride, they start by killing all of the cubs that they can. Lions at the head of the pride will usually remain in power for three years before they lose their pride to another individual. So lion behaviors are really interesting and we're going to hear more about them right after the break. Here's today's trivia question. What is the fastest marine mammal in the world? The fastest marine mammal is the dolphin. They can reach speeds of up to 37 miles per hour.

(13:28): Okay, welcome back. Being very territorial males use many methods to defend the pride's lands. Lions will mark their territories by urinating on bushes or trees, and this urine contains a unique mixture of pheromones that specific to the individual, and it helps the lion spread a message saying, Hey, this is my territory. By scratching the ground while this scent marking occurs, they can remove old scent markings from competitors and coat their feet in the scent to keep spreading it while they're on the move. Defecating and rubbing up against trees and bushes can also help to send messages. Lions also have a loud roar that warns intruders. They're shredding on someone else's territory. Both males and females can roar and it can be heard as far as five miles away. They have many other forms of behavior apart from roaring and scent marking too. Lions can rub their heads and nuzzle against each other in greeting, but they also have a bunch of vocalizations such as meows, pers, hises, and snarls.

(14:36): Lions are the laziest member of the Feela day family, and it's not uncommon for them to spend between 16 and 20 hours lounging around and sleeping, but that doesn't mean they're not athletic because they can jump over 12 feet in the air being apex predators, lions help to keep prey populations in check, so they're extremely important parts of their ecosystems. And you may think that lions hurt their preys population, but they actually help to make the population stronger. They'll mostly take down the weakest members of the group, which can eliminate any diseases that could get passed on to other members. Unfortunately, lion populations aren't doing great, and it's mainly because of us. When they're younger, they're at risk of predation from some of Africa's top predators, but as adults, they can be healed by humans and other lions. People kill lions for hunting trophies, medicinal reasons, and to protect their livestock.

(15:35): Lions are also prone to certain tick-borne diseases such as canine distemper and Baja. Distemper gets spread to lions by dogs from nearby villages, as well as hyenas and babesia can occur during droughts when they're malnourished and more susceptible to disease. Due to the close proximities of lion prides, diseases can spread quickly and decimate populations of lions. These are reasons why lions have become critically endangered, but there are many organizations working to help lion populations recover. Some of these organizations are the African Wildlife Foundation, the Born Free Foundation, and the Panthera Corporation. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explore the world of Lions. You can find the sources that we use for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference at onwildlife.org. You can also email us with any questions at On Wildlife dot podcast@gmail.com, and you can follow us on Instagram at On Wildlife, or on TikTok at wildlife. Don't forget to tune in next Wednesday for another awesome episode, and that's On Wildlife.

Jess Avellino (16:57): You've been listening to On Wildlife with Alex Re. On Wildlife provides general educational information on various topics as a public service, which should not be construed as professional financial, real estate, tax, or legal advice. These are our personal opinions only. Please refer to our full disclaimer policy on our website for full details.