Did you know...?

You´ve probably heard of Simba from the "Lion King" movie, but did you know that in Swahili, simba means lion, king, strong and agressive!

Lions are the only cats who live in social groups of up to 30. These groups are called prides

Lions are the only cats where the male and female have distinctly different physical features. This is called sexual diamorphism.

Lions sleep or rest up to 20hrs a day!

Males earn their keep by marking and protecting their territory and looking after the lion cubs while the lionesses are hunting

If you´re trying to get away from a lion, we don´t recommend climbing a tree. Lions are very adept tree climbers, often choosing tree branches as a cool resting spot.

The male lion is distinguished by his thick mane. This serves well to protect his neck from the claws of other males during fights and leadership battles.

The Plight of the Lion

Currently, here are around 10,000 african lions (Panthera leo) left in the wild. These populations are mostly in protected reserves and are stable for now. However, there are some worries that as migration of prides becomes more difficult, there will not be enough genetic diversity to prevent inbreeding of lion populations in the future.

For their asian cousins (Pantera leo persica) the situation is far more dire with less than 300 remaining in the wild. This species of lion are now only found in a small part of India called the Gir Forest and are in danger of becoming extinct.

These fun facts are from the The San Diego Zoo Website