Photo Spotlight: Panthera leo - The Lion

Last but not least, we arrive at the mammals, at what some would consider the top of the evolutionary food chain (though that's not strictly true). It's therefore somewhat fitting that the last animal to be treated in this series is also considered to be the apex terrestrial predator (not including Humans). I'm talking of course about the king of the beasts: Panthera leo - The African Lion

Everyone, from every culture, and almost every age has heard of the lion, and often the first and lass thing they learn about them is that they are pure predator, from claws to jaws, everything screams loudly that Lions are not something to be trifled with.

Weighing in at several hundred pounds and more than 2.5 meters long, the Lion is a most formidable creature. The African Lion has razor sharp claws and jaws powerful enough to crush and antelope's skull like it was an egg. While not as fast or lithe as a cheetah, they make up for it by being able to take down much larger prey, things which even a large group of smaller predators would be unable to kill.

How large? Well, though it's not too common, a young or sick adult elephant is not out of the realm of possibilities. Though it does usually require a pride of lions working in concert, if they can separate the individual from the herd they can kill it at their leisure. The only real creature on the savanna's of Africa, other than an adult elephant is the Hippo. Barring those two, there isn't much that a lion can't kill.

As you probably know, lions live in prides, consisting of one adult male and numerous females. Male lions in particular can be very cruel (at least from a human's perspective). A pride of lions can be often be in complete turmoil as male lions from outside the pride fight the established male for dominance. If the current head loses, the winner will often kill all the cubs fathered by the defeated pack leader. As I said, it seems cruel to us, but from a biological perspective it makes sense: eliminating the cubs fathered by another male allows more resources to go to the cubs that will be fathered by the newcomer, thus ensuring that his genes alone will be allowed to propagate.

With all that said, I present my final predator: The Lion

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Comments

[kourtney]

I really like the lion, but it is soooo time for an update! :)
Just no bugs! lol