Colours of Wildlife: Lion
Created | Updated Jul 15, 2012
Lion
Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours ... but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"
Today I have two watercolour paintings for you! These are lions of course. So far I haven’t done a painting of a lioness … I shall see about remedying that. The lion’s English name comes from the Greek "leon"; in Afrikaans it is "leeu" via Latin "leo". Its scientific name is Panthera leo, and it is one of the Big Cats, the others being the Leopard, the Jaguar, and the Tiger. The Snow Leopard has some features of big cats and also some of 'little' cats, though it is quite big, and the Cheetah seems more closely related to the 'little cats'. The Puma (also called Cougar or Mountain Lion) is the largest of the 'little' cats and can actually exceed leopards in size.
With lions being as spectacular as they are, featured in stories, art, mythology, and deeply entrenched in the public consciousness – and also featuring in probably MOST wildlife documentaries ever made – there's a lot many of you would already know about them. So I'd rather try and tell you folks a few things you might not know.
First off: you can see that my pictures are of adult, male lions – because of the luxurious mane. Did you know that not all adult male lions have manes? There are populations of lions in various parts in Africa, such as Tsavo East National Park in Kenya, where the males have short or no manes. There have even been a couple of man–eating lions that proved to be maneless males rather than females after being shot.
At the opposite extreme, some male lions have ultra–luxuriant manes, extending to their mid–backs, to the underside of their bellies, and covering most of their front legs when they're standing. The colour of the mane can vary from light gold to black … bigger manes usually being darker as well. Although adult male lions may be maneless, lionesses and sub–adult lions are always maneless. The hormone testosterone is involved in the growth of the mane, higher testosterone levels resulting in more extensive mane development. This makes the lion look bigger and more impressive. It improves its chances of intimidating rival lions as well as other predators like hyenas. The mane of the male lion is a unique feature in the Cat Family – no other cat has it, although young cheetahs have prominent manes on their necks and backs that they lose as they grow older. Lions also are the only cat species where the male is strikingly, visibly different from the female. This is called sexual dimorphism. Lastly, the small tuft at the end of the tail – possessed by male as well as female – is another unique feature of lions.
Although today lions are associated with Africa, in the past they occurred much more widely. They used to live in Europe, Asia, North America and the northern part of South America as well. Some of these lions differed from the modern ones. The two European subspecies called cave lions were both bigger than modern lions. They had smaller or nonexistent manes (they were portrayed in cave paintings by ancient humans) and faint tiger–like stripes. In North and South America, the subspecies Panthera leo atrox was the largest of all, comparable to present–day tigers. The cave lions died out about ten thousand years ago, but European populations of lions persisted until about 100 AD.
A North African population survived in the wild until the earliest Twentieth Century. This subspecies, called the Barbary Lion, was probably the one imported by the Romans to fight condemned people in the arena, or to just be slaughtered outright. This as well as other kinds of persecution was responsible for its demise. But there is a chance that some Barbary Lions still exist in captivity, particularly in Morocco.
There is also still a small population of Asian Lions, living in the Gir Forest in India. They number only about three hundred individuals in the wild, but there are captive animals of this subspecies all over the world being managed as a breeding project.
What about White Lions? For those of you who don't know about those, here is a picture:
These are not a different species or subspecies , and neither are they albinos. They are a colour variant, caused by a recessive gene, making their coats lighter than normal, but they do still have normal eye colour and pigment in the skin. These lions are mostly found in South Africa, most famously in the Kruger National Park and the Timbavati Game Reserve. There are currently breeding programs to propagate them as well. Sadly this is more a matter of them being a novelty, or even as hunting trophies, rather than for their preservation in a viable ecological context.
Another kind of curiosity is hybridization of lions with other big cats. Lion–tiger hybrids are still fairly common. If a male lion impregnates a female tiger the result is called a liger. This thing is unusual because of growing huge, bigger than both its parents. This is due to a tigress lacking a gene for countering a growth–producing gene found in the male lion. Ligers have been known to reach a weight of 450 kg/1000 pounds, which is about twice as heavy as a large male lion. Ligers have only poorly developed manes, and faint stripes and often spots as well.
A tigon is the result of a male tiger impregnating a lioness, and is typically smaller than a liger. Lions have been crossed with leopards and jaguars as well, but these hybrids are rarely seen. Lion–leopard hybrids might occur in nature, since these species do occur naturally alongside each other, but are very rare.
Today this kind of hybridization in zoos is discouraged because it is mainly of novelty value and does not contribute to preserving the species as they are in Nature.
Lions in captivity can live for over twenty years while in the wild they rarely survive more than fifteen. They have a hard life. Male lions fight with each other a lot; they often fight with other predators like hyenas; finally, most of their intended prey items are also reluctant to leave life, and fight back. Buffaloes, giraffes and many large antelopes are able to kill adult lions with their horns and/or hooves. Some lions are even killed by porcupines. These large rodents are slow, relying on their spiny covering for protection. But hungry lions will sometimes try to catch and eat them. In the process spines can become embedded in their faces, chests or abdomens, and tend to 'work' their way deeper and finally may puncture something vital.
But lions have a strength – apart from their actual huge size and physical strength that is: they cooperate. They are the most social of all the cat species. Prides are usually based on females with their cubs and close relatives, with just one or two males attending. Lionesses – who are faster, more agile and more aggressive than the males – do most of the hunting as well. This takes place mostly at night. Hunting is done in short bursts; lions actually spend about 20 hours of each day resting and sleeping. Many individuals cooperating increase the likelihood of a hunt being successful, but also means there are more mouths that need to be fed. Some lions that are poor hunters ride on the coat–tails of the more efficient ones. But somehow it does seem that they contribute as well, such as helping to watch over and raise cubs.
But there are lions that do not join prides. Male cubs are ejected from prides when they grow up; if they want to join a different pride they will have to challenge the male or males already in it. Some never succeed at this. Such males may end up wandering solitary, catching their own food, or sometimes pair up with females that are also prideless. These lions are called nomads.
Lions hunting have been shown in so many documentaries that I'll just briefly mention the basics: lions try and creep up as close as possible to their intended prey before making a charge, since they are fast but lack endurance. Lionesses often attack cooperatively from different directions in an attempt to corner or encircle their victim. The kill is usually made by biting the prey by the throat or over its mouth and nostrils and so strangling or suffocating it. During the minutes needed for this, the lion's great strength is necessary to maintain the hold and subdue the victim – the assistance of other lionesses apart from the main killer also helps with this. Sometimes prey will succeed in breaking free and escaping. And as I mentioned, sometimes large prey animals will seriously injure or kill their attackers. It must be fairly desperate lions who would tackle adult buffaloes, giraffes, rhinos, or even young elephants – but they do, sometimes, and most of those times it doesn't go well for them. Buffaloes are especially notorious for fighting back – especially since they live in big herds – or sometimes even attacking lions without provocation. But even so, there are lion prides that have managed to become successful at hunting buffaloes, giraffes and elephants.
Lions mostly target large prey: individuals of about 190 kg to 550 kg/about 410 to 1200 lbs. Zebras and wildebeests are some of their favourites. But if these are not available they'll try something smaller, such as the aforementioned porcupines or small antelopes like Steenboks.
Male lions have a bit of a nasty side. First, despite doing little hunting in the pride, they get to eat first. A male lion being bigger and stronger can drive off the females who actually killed the prey, and eat as much as it wants before letting them have a go. It may even eat the entire prey item if it is something like a medium or small antelope. And then there's the behaviour of a male joining a new pride. If it manages to overcome the opposition of the other males, it will try to kill all the young cubs in the pride. The females will try and prevent it. If the cubs are somewhat bigger, they will, along with their mother, fight back and stand a chance. But if the lion successfully kills the cubs, the females will come in heat again and it will mate with them, this time populating the pride with its own offspring.
But they are not quite as bad and useless as you might think. Male lions in a pride are valuable to help keep off other predators like hyenas from their kills. They may even help with stealing prey brought down by hyenas, cheetahs, leopards or wild dogs. When alone or nomadic, the males do hunt effectively on their own.
Right now lions are in trouble. They are decreasing in numbers in Africa due to habitat loss and direct persecution from people. Only in large nature reserves are they fairly safe, but in such places there could still be problems due to the population getting too small and too genetically uniform. The small Asian population is currently being well conserved and growing, which is a ray of hope.
