Interesting facts about lions

LIONS are unique animals that live in parts of Africa and Asia.  A lion may sleep up to 20 hours a day. A lion’s heels don’t touch the ground when it walks.  A good gauge of a male lion’s age is the darkness of his mane. The darker the mane, the older the lion.  Even though the lion is sometimes referred to as the “king of the jungle,” it actually only lives in grasslands and plains. The expression may have come from an incorrect association between Africa and jungles or may refer to a less literal meaning of the word jungle.

● A lion can run for short distances at 80km per hour and leap as far as 11 metres.

● A lion’s roar can be heard from as far as 8km away.

● The lion was once found throughout Africa, Asia and Europe, but now exists only in Africa with one exception. The last remaining Asiatic lions are found in Sasan-Gir National Park in India, which was primarily created to protect the species. Currently, there are approximately 350-400 lions in the park.

● These majestic cats are threatened by habitat loss. The lion is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened species.

● Male lions defend the pride’s territory while females do most of the hunting. Despite this, the males eat first.

● African lions are the most social of all big cats and live together in groups or “prides.” A pride consists of about 15 lions.

● Lions can eat up to 40kg of meat in a single meal — around a quarter of their body weight. Their tongues have sharp-pointed rasps, called papillae, which are used to scrape meat off the bones.