LION
			Phylum: Class: Order: Family: Species: Chordata Mammalia Carnivora Felidae Panthera leo

These beautiful tawny-colored big cats have always held a kind of majestic image in many circles and cultures. Unlike its solitary relatives the leopard, jaguar, and tiger, the lion is better known and viewable. The male lions are up to 9 feet in length (2.7 m), including the tail, standing 1 yard high (1 m) at the shoulder and weighing up to 550 lbs. (250 kg). They have black or tawny colored manes covering the head, neck and shoulders, while the lionesses are smaller and have no mane.

At one time, lions were common from southern Europe, to northern and central India, and all throughout Africa. Researchers say the last lion died in Europe somewhere between 80 to 100 A.D. In Asia, they survive only in India's Gir Forest. They have been wiped out in northern Africa, and in southern Africa, outside of Kruger Park.

Lions live in open country where there is scrub brush, spreading trees, or reed beds. Their tawny coats camouflage them well among the tall tropical grasses of savanna lands. They live in groups called prides of up to 20, and sometimes even up to 40. Each pride contains one mature lion (or more) and a number of lionesses with their cubs. Members of a pride cooperate in hunting, to stalk or ambush prey. A lion is capable of reaching speeds up to 37 mph (60 km/h), but only in short bursts.

In a hunting group, the lionesses most often kill the prey. The male lions eat first, the lionesses next, and the cubs last. Antelope and zebra form the bulk of a lion's kill but almost any animal is taken, from cane rat to elephant. When age or injury prevent a lion from catching large, agile prey, it may turn to porcupines or smaller rodents, or to sheep and goats for its food. Occasionally, they have been known to take to man-eating, attacking especially women and children.

Lions reach their prime at five years. A male will fight rival males and mate with several females. Pregnancy lasts 105 to 112 days. A lioness usually has 2 to 5 cubs which are born blind. They are weaned at three months and start hunting for themselves at a year old. Meanwhile, because they feed last at kills, many cubs die from lack of food. This serves as a natural check on numbers. Apart from humans, lions have no natural enemies.