Habitat
Lions inhabit open woodlands and thick bush, scrub and grass lands where sufficient cover is provided for hunting and denning. In Africa the lion is absent only from tropical rainforest and the interior of the Sahara desert. Although lions drink regularly when water is available, they can survive in very arid environments. They may range quite high into the mountains of East Africa, up to around 4,000m in mountainous regions of Kenya and Ethiopia.
Diet
Lions usually hunt at night, in groups and can bring down prey larger than themselves. They eat mainly fairly large mammals such as gazelles, zebras, impalas, wildebeests, cape buffalo, giraffe. Lions also sometimes eat birds, small mammals, fish, eggs, amphibians, reptiles. They are known to sometimes steal meals from other hunters.
Breeding
Litters of 1-4 cubs are born after gestation of about 110 days. In the wild males typically live about 12 years and females about 15 years. In captivity lions have lived longer than 25 years.
Range
Lions are found in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The lion formerly ranged from northern Africa through southwest Asia (where it disappeared from most countries within the last 150 years), west into Europe, where it apparently became extinct almost 2,000 years ago, and east into India. Today, the only remainder of this once widespread population is a single isolated population of the Asiatic lion in Gir Forest National Park. Lions are extinct in North Africa.
Other Names
lion d’Afrique (French)
Löwe (German)
león (Spanish)
ambessa (Amharic: Ethiopia)
nkharam (Chichewa: Malawi)
xamm (Damara: Namibia)
zaki (Hausa)
hiun chituwa (Nepal)
odum, aja (Ibo, Yoruba: Nigeria)
n!hai (Ju/hoan Bushman: Botswana, Namibia)
ngatia, muruthi (Kikuyu: Kenya)
ngouambulu (Lingala: West Africa)
labwor (Luo: Kenya, Uganda)
olugatany (Maasai, Samburu: Kenya, Tanzania)
leao (Portugese)
tau (Setswana: Botswana)
simba (KiSwahili)
aar, baranbarqo, libaax, gool, davar (Somalia)
