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The Lion King

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The lion appeals to many people. The King of the Jungle is his proud nickname. That a lion belongs to the felines also knows everyone. And they are very photogenic, but certainly no kittens to deal with without gloves, and that may also be known.

And when I made this picture I was amazed and tempted by this creature again. The Lion King. Real predators, king of the jungle! They appeal to me so much. And then I wonder ...

Did you know the following 15 facts about Lions?

• The lion is not the biggest feline on earth. An adult male lion weighs about 250 kilos, but a tiger is bigger and heavier.

• Lions are more social than other felines. Most felines live solitary and come together in mating season. But Lions always live in a group. Such a group usually consists of lionesses who are related to each other, their offspring and a few male lions.

• When a male lion takes over a troop, the cubs present are usually killed by the new male. He then pairs himself with all the fertile lionesses to bring new cubs into the pack.

• A lion roars the hardest of all felines. An adult male can be heard up to 8 kilometers away. This is how troops communicate their location to other troops.

• Lions are the only felines where male and female have a different appearance from mother nature. The females lack the characteristic moons that lions have.

• A lion sleeps an average of 16 to 20 hours during the day. This is partly due to the fact that they have few sweat glands so they prefer to save their strength during the day. Because of their retractable claws and good visibility at night, they are also excellent hunters in the dark when it is cooler.

• In terms of hunting, the male does not do the most work. The males act as bodyguard, offer protection to the troop, but the females do the hunting. It is a bit like the life of people, where traditionally the task of shopping and cooking food lies with the lady of the house. Here, lionesses are no different.

• Lions have back teeth with which they can cut every meat into smaller pieces. It does not matter how thick the meat is. What is striking, a lion does not chew on his food, he swallows it immediately.

• Lionesses are sexually active several times a year. They give birth on average from 1 to 4 cubs. And the cubs are then brought up by all the lionesses in the pack and can also drink with all lionesses who have just thrown. It does not matter which lioness is the mother.

• A lion eats an average of 7 kilos a day. A lioness settles for 5 kilos of food per day.
  In the wild, the life expectancy of a lion is between 12 and 16 years. In captivity, life expectancy increases to 25 years.

• At short distances, a lion can reach a speed of about 80km per hour. And they can make jumps of about 11 meters. Impressive right?

• If water is available, lions drink this daily. If it is not there, they can do without them for about four or five days, and try to get as much of their fluid from the stomach of their prey. We really shouldn't try this!

• A very sad fact. The African lion is threatened with extinction. They become victims of the advancing humanity, and the hunt, their habitat is occupied by people. The population still consists of about 30,000 to 100,000 African Lions.

• And Asian lions are in an even more difficult position. Their population counts only 350 lions. Loss of their living environment is the biggest problem here.

How far does it have to go? When does humanity see that this can no longer go on?

Category	Monomad Thursday Animals
Location	Ouwehands Dierenpark Rhenen, The Netherlands

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