The KING of Beasts - Lion

Lion is known to be the King of Beasts across most cultures of the world.


This is mostly because of a lion’s appearance and partly because of the social structure of a pride and the lion’s role in the pride. A lion does possess a royal look and attitude. Add to that a tremendous roar that can be heard over miles on the Savannah. Also, living in a pride, a lion doesn’t need to hide itself or avoid any other animals including human beings.


A lions lives in the open and controls its territory like a true king, sporting a ‘kingly’ mane and heading a pride that feeds him. The Bible of the Christians and the Geeta of the Hindus both mention the lion as the king of the beasts. So it has got accepted as a sign of royalty all over the world from as early as the Roman empire

Vital Statistics:
[There are a lot of variation in the figures found online. I tried to collect them from reputed instituion and/or govt sources]

*Largest Lion in captivity: 806 lbs (366 kg)

*Largest Lion found in the wild: 702 lbs (318 kg) and 11′ (3.35 m)

*Average size (mode) of African Lion: 410 lbs (186 kg) and 8′10″ (2.7 m)

** Lions stand around 1.15m (including mane) at shoulder as opposed to 1m of a tiger


The King of The Kings:
When you think of a lion, you think of an African lion. The Asiatic ones are somewhat smaller in size and relatively unknown living in the tiger country. There is no significant variation in size among the African lions. In some online forums it is claimed that Ngorongoro Crater lions are the largest sub-specis of lions. But there is no base to that claim.. The Tsavo lions are generally considered more aggressive, but they are naturally maneless.
Choice: African lion (with mane).


Relative advantages over a tiger:


1.Thick protective mane. It also makes a lion look much bigger, heavier and taller than it really is. This is of immediate psychological disadvantage to any animal fighting a lion. It’s downright scary to see a lion coming towards you roaring. A lioness, even if it were of similar size, wouldn’t inspire as much awe. From the fight videos, it does seem that the mane is of huge advantage to the lion. In the only fight-video of a maneless (shaved) lion, the lion seemed too easy to beat by the tiger. The mane is the biggest weapon for a lion – both for defence and for scaring off the opponent.


2..More massively built shoulders. Both the cats have extremely powerful and muscular ’shoulders’ and forelimbs.


3.Taller structure. This makes the lion more intimidating. Also, this somewhat compensates for the weaker hindquarters.


Here’s a very good video showcasing lions: