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LION

Made by : Hendri Aryadi

The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the four big cats in genus Panthera and a member of the family Felidae. The lion's name, similar in many Romance languages, is derived from the Latin (leo) and the Ancient Greek (λέων = leon). 

 

Lion is a wild carnivore, so it usually eats meats. Male lions and female lions are different. Visually, the male lion is highly distinctive and easily recognized by its mane. Mature male lions are unique among the cat species for the thick mane of brown or black hair encircling the head and neck, but the female lion haven’t. Both male and female lions roar, a sound which can be heard as far as 8 kilometers away. However, male lions are bigger than female lions. The weight of male lion is about 225 kilograms and the weight of female lion is about 150 kilograms.

Lion has a strong body like tiger and a fur in their tails, but lion is different from the other Felidae family like tiger, cat, leopard, cheetah and the other. The example is lion and tiger. Lion has a strong nail to climb the trees, but tiger hasn’t. Then the difference of lion and cheetah is lion has a strong and big body, but cheetah only has a small body. The most difference from lion and the other Felidae family is lion lives in groups, but cat, tiger and cheetah don’t. Cat, tiger and cheetah usually live as individually.

Lion are famous especially in savannah land. They are known as “King of Savannah” because of their bold and bravery. They owned the savannah as their own land. Their numbers in savannah are many too, but they also typically inhabit grassland, bush and forest.

They usually live in group. In that group, male lion is more than the female lion because the male lion need to protect the female and their cubs. The lion have their own territory. They always hunt in group. They hunt zebras, deer, buffalos and the other herbivore animals. Lions are apex and keystone predators, but they have their rival that they can say enemy. It was hyena. Hyenas live in group too, but they only act at night.

 

Lions spend much of their time resting and inactive for about 20 hours per day. Although lions can be active at any time, their activity generally peaks after dusk with a period of socializing and grooming. Intermittent bursts of activity follow through the night hours until dawn, when hunting most often takes place. They spend an average of two hours a day walking and 50 minutes eating.

Most lions will have reproduced by the time they are four years of age. The average gestation period is around 110 days. The female gives birth to a litter of one to four cubs in a secluded den. She will often hunt by herself while the cubs are still helpless, staying relatively close to the thicket or den where the cubs are kept. The cubs themselves are born blind. Their eyes do not open until roughly a week after birth. Their weight are 1.2–2.1 kg at birth and are almost helpless, beginning to crawl a day or two days after birth and walking around three weeks of age.

 

Lion is very protective to their offspring. If their babies are in danger, lion comes and attack the beast that attacked their baby.  As an animal, lion is almost same like human. They love their child as we are. If they are in danger, lion use their strong and sharp nails to attack and crawl the enemy.

Actually, lions live for ten to fourteen years in the wild, while in captivity they can live longer than twenty years. In the wild, males seldom live longer than ten years, as injuries sustained from continual fighting with rival males greatly reduce their longevity.

Wild lions currently exist in Africa and in Asia with a critically endangered remnant population, such as in South Africa, East Timor and India. But because of the hunter want their fur, the habitats of lion dropped drastically.

Lion is a tame animal although they are wild beast. We can call them a tamed animal because lion doesn’t attack human except hunter. We can see them in zoo too. In zoo, we can see a group of lion that standing on a big rock. Lion loves rocks because they used rocks as their toys. In savannah land, lion lives in a stone cave. Lion is a good animal that can be used in commercial too. Their skill in jumping makes they usually used in a circus. They can jump on a ring of fire without fear.

The lion also has been an icon for humanity for thousands of years, appearing in cultures across Europe, Asia, and Africa. For example the island nation of Singapore derives its name from the Malay words “singa” (lion) and “pora” (city/fortress). There’s also a Merlion Statue as the mascot. A common depiction is their representation as "king of the jungle" or "king of beasts". So they have been a popular symbol of royalty, power, courage, nobility and stateliness.

"Lion" was the nickname of several succesful warrior rulers with a reputation for bravery, such as the English King, “Richard the Lionheart” and “Henry the Lion” or “Heinrich der Löwe“. The lion was used as a symbol of sport teams, from national association football teams such as England, Scotland and Singapore until club team, like Chelsea FC and English Premier League itself. In many stories, they also used as the main character. For example in the Puranic texts of Hinduism, there’s Narasimha a half lion and man incarnation or avatar of Vishnu. In cartoon too, they were used as the main character, like “Alex” in Madagascar movie.