Uploaded October 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
The king of the jungle, one of the largest cats alive today, and up there for a favourite animal of many people, in this video I go over their size, conservation, diet, habits, and much more, including a brief note about man-eating Lions like the famous Tsavo man-eaters.
Sources of information, images and footage can be found in this google docs: docs.google.com/document/d/1TSamGuStZRfs5azxMDPvqSjI9IOjJGH--evDMvduNNY/edit?usp=sharing
Additional notes/corrections:
1: According to Sunquist & Sunquist’s Wild Cats of the World, it appears the tactic of killing differs from pride to pride, with some delivering more throat bites or muzzle bites than others, almost as if there’s some sort of culture among each pride.
2: The pride system is much more complex than often made out to be, so I’m sorry if anything appears contradictory throughout the video.
3: There are also some other “Lions,” such as the American Lion (Panthera atrox) and the Cave Lion (Panthera spelaea), but they were excluded from this video for not being proper Lions, which belong to the taxonomic name Panthera leo. The American Lion will probably get its own video at some point, since its peaked my interested as a result of my response to Tyrannotherium.
4: Lions are extremely adaptable when it comes to being hunted. According to Guggisberg, during the Boer War, large amounts of ungulates in Sabi Game Reserve were shot as food for soldiers. The Lions and other carnivores would later be shot in order to give the game animals time to recover their numbers. For quite some time, the Lions there as a result of persecution would be nocturnal in order to avoid humans. After the war, and the place was re-established as the Kruger National Park, Lions would begin to hunt more frequently at day.
5: Female Lions as they age have been known to develop whiskers, as though they are growing manes like their male counterparts.
6: Lions according to Gerald Hinde & Luke Hunter’s Cats of Africa can outrun any cat in their ecosystem, with the sole exception of the Cheetah. Hunter documents one observation he made of a Leopard running for a tree while being chased by two Lionesses, where they were pretty much on his tail by the time he made it up the tree and out of danger.
7: A problem with allowing trophy hunting of Lions is that most are trying to get very large males as trophies. Large, dominant male Lions are the one of the main reasons cubs survive, due to larger males being the ones often holding control over prides. Killing them leadings to much easier takeovers by other males, who commit infanticide, meaning it is hard to get numbers up to a decent amount, due to these weaker males now battling it out to take over prides, killing cubs in the produce.
8: Originally the Asiatic Lions were considered their own subspecies, Panthera leo persica, though according to Luke Hunter’s 2015 book, genetic evidence indicates that Asiatic Lions and northern Africa populations, can be lumped together as the subspecies Panthera leo leo. Everything below the Sahara is known as Panthera leo melanochaita, and from there, each subspecies has three regional variants.
9: Range of Lion’s territory can vary a lot from 12-60 square kilometres in Gir Protected Area among prides there, all the way up to 13,365-17,221 square kilometres recorded from two coalitions of Lions in Kunene. Population density can also vary from 0.05 to 38 per 100 square kilometers, depending on which reserve your looking at.
10: Lions have been known to cover recent kills in dirt, but they never come back to feed on them, unlike other cats such as Pumas.
11: According to a quick google search after finishing this video, there's close to 700 Asiatic Lions now.
12: "Wildebeest" is misspelled in the part on Lion speed/endurance.
#lion #lions #lioness #lioncountry #lionvstiger #tigervslion #tiger #jaguar #snowleopard #leopard #africa #africananimals #africanwildlife #tsavomaneaters #ghostandthedarkness #kingofthejungle #lionmane #lionfights #lionfight #bigcats #greatcats #panthera #pantheraleo #thelionking #thelionking2019
The king of the jungle, one of the largest cats alive today, and up there for a favourite animal of many people, in this video I go over their size, conservation, diet, habits, and much more, including a brief note about man-eating Lions like the famous Tsavo man-eaters.
Sources of information, images and footage can be found in this google docs: docs.google.com/document/d/1TSamGuStZRfs5azxMDPvqSjI9IOjJGH--evDMvduNNY/edit?usp=sharing
Additional notes/corrections:
1: According to Sunquist & Sunquist’s Wild Cats of the World, it appears the tactic of killing differs from pride to pride, with some delivering more throat bites or muzzle bites than others, almost as if there’s some sort of culture among each pride.
2: The pride system is much more complex than often made out to be, so I’m sorry if anything appears contradictory throughout the video.
3: There are also some other “Lions,” such as the American Lion (Panthera atrox) and the Cave Lion (Panthera spelaea), but they were excluded from this video for not being proper Lions, which belong to the taxonomic name Panthera leo. The American Lion will probably get its own video at some point, since its peaked my interested as a result of my response to Tyrannotherium.
4: Lions are extremely adaptable when it comes to being hunted. According to Guggisberg, during the Boer War, large amounts of ungulates in Sabi Game Reserve were shot as food for soldiers. The Lions and other carnivores would later be shot in order to give the game animals time to recover their numbers. For quite some time, the Lions there as a result of persecution would be nocturnal in order to avoid humans. After the war, and the place was re-established as the Kruger National Park, Lions would begin to hunt more frequently at day.
5: Female Lions as they age have been known to develop whiskers, as though they are growing manes like their male counterparts.
6: Lions according to Gerald Hinde & Luke Hunter’s Cats of Africa can outrun any cat in their ecosystem, with the sole exception of the Cheetah. Hunter documents one observation he made of a Leopard running for a tree while being chased by two Lionesses, where they were pretty much on his tail by the time he made it up the tree and out of danger.
7: A problem with allowing trophy hunting of Lions is that most are trying to get very large males as trophies. Large, dominant male Lions are the one of the main reasons cubs survive, due to larger males being the ones often holding control over prides. Killing them leadings to much easier takeovers by other males, who commit infanticide, meaning it is hard to get numbers up to a decent amount, due to these weaker males now battling it out to take over prides, killing cubs in the produce.
8: Originally the Asiatic Lions were considered their own subspecies, Panthera leo persica, though according to Luke Hunter’s 2015 book, genetic evidence indicates that Asiatic Lions and northern Africa populations, can be lumped together as the subspecies Panthera leo leo. Everything below the Sahara is known as Panthera leo melanochaita, and from there, each subspecies has three regional variants.
9: Range of Lion’s territory can vary a lot from 12-60 square kilometres in Gir Protected Area among prides there, all the way up to 13,365-17,221 square kilometres recorded from two coalitions of Lions in Kunene. Population density can also vary from 0.05 to 38 per 100 square kilometers, depending on which reserve your looking at.
10: Lions have been known to cover recent kills in dirt, but they never come back to feed on them, unlike other cats such as Pumas.
11: According to a quick google search after finishing this video, there's close to 700 Asiatic Lions now.
12: "Wildebeest" is misspelled in the part on Lion speed/endurance.
#lion #lions #lioness #lioncountry #lionvstiger #tigervslion #tiger #jaguar #snowleopard #leopard #africa #africananimals #africanwildlife #tsavomaneaters #ghostandthedarkness #kingofthejungle #lionmane #lionfights #lionfight #bigcats #greatcats #panthera #pantheraleo #thelionking #thelionking2019
