The Lion Research Paper

The King of the Jungle The lion. A fierce, flesh eating animal that owns the African plains. Lions have many unique and amazing characteristics. Their rarity, their strength, and the way their life cycle makes them stand out as a very special species. The Lion, light brown in color as if you put a jar of honey up to the sun and peered through it. Full grown males have a special looking physique around their neck and this is called a mane. Manes usually grow around the age of two years old, which signals the level of maturity. The size and density serve a function of intimidation as they look more threatening and present a warning to any possible opponents. The lion has a strong, muscular body with very powerful legs. The strength of the

They can make such a loud roar because their cartilage in their throats has turned into a bone, making them 25 times louder than a gas-powered lawn mower. A lion’s social structure is very interesting. A typical pride of lions consists of about five or six related females, and two or three males that join the pride from elsewhere. The pride will team up taking down prey that is much bigger than them such as a rhino or elephant. Lions have captured the attention of many because of their amazing sociality. Lions live and hunt in groups unlike other big cats. A pride of lions can range from a small group to a large gang of up to thirty lions. Many humans view lions as vicious, aggressive animal that owns the food chain. Lions rarely attack humans but on certain occasions they have killed humans before. Lions are very territorial and will remain calm if you stay within a distance from them. They will not attack unless they are challenged or taunted or if they’re as hungry as a great

The gestation period of a lion lasts for nearly four months and gives birth between one to six cubs that are born blind. As the cubs grow up, they do something called role playing where they watch their mother or father hunt to learn and do it themselves one day. Like humans, lions are not born with teeth. They grow small ones when very young which get replaced with adult teeth as they grow up. The canines (four largest teeth) can reach up to seven centimeters in length and they are used to rip skin and tear away meat. A lion’s paws are very similar to a house cat but much bigger. They have five toes on the front paws and four on the back. Just like a house cat, lions have retractable claws which means they can be stretched out and then brought back inside under their fur where they’re hidden. Their claws can grow up to 28 millimeters in length and remain sharp and very strong. The fifth toe of a lion is called the dewclaw which acts like a thumb for gripping and holding down its prey. Lions claws are the same substance as human nails which contain many layers that eventually break off to grow a sharper, more stronger claws. This explains why we see house cats scratching at something, lions do the same thing and its all for a simple reason; to sharpen their