1. Class : Mammalia

2. Order : Carnivora

3. Family : Felidae

4. Genus Species : Panthera leo

5. Size : The males can reach a length of 2.50m (8 ft.) and a height of 1.20m (4 ft.). The females are smaller with a length of 1.70m (5.5 ft.) and a height of 1.05m (3.5 ft.)

6. Weight : Between 150 to 250 kg (330 - 550 lbs) for the males and 120 - 180 kg for the females

7. Description : It's famous feature is it's mane, which only male lions have. The mane is a yellow color when the lion is young and darkens with age. Eventually, the mane will be dark brown. The body of the lion is well suited for hunting. It is very muscular, with back legs designed for pouncing and front legs made for grabbing and knocking down prey. It also has very strong jaws that enable it to eat the large prey that it hunts.

8. Life Span : 13 - 25 years

9. Reproduction : Reproduction occurs all year round, with 2 to 6 cubs being born. The lioness normally leaves the pride to give birth to the litter, in a sheltered spot where she leaves them while hunting. At this stage, the cubs are very vunerable. Once the cubs are big enough to follow their mother, she will take them to the pride and introduce them to their father. This is another crucial time in the cubs' life, as nobody can predict the reaction of the male.

10. Gestation : 100 - 120 days

11. Habitat : The lion prefers grassy plains, savannas and semi-deserts. It is located throughout much of Africa, especially in the southeastern part of the continent.

12. Diet : The lion is a carnivore. It hunts mostly large to medium-sized animals like the giraffe, buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, wild hogs and antelopes.

13. Predators : The lions is very high on the food chain. As such, it has almost no predators

14. Endangered Status : Non -endangered

15. Special Features : Lions have execellent eyesight, good hearing and sense of smell. They also have very quick reflexes, which allows them to keep up with the agile antelope.

16. Social Organization : Lions are the only cats that live in large family groups. Each pride differs in size and formation, but a typical pride consist of 2 males and 7 females and a variable number of cubs. Females are usually sisters and/or cousins that have grown up together. When the pride hunts as a group, the employ and ambush that forces large prey into the waiting paws of the males. Females have the speed but lack the body weight to knock down large size prey such as the wild beast. Despite their tremendous power and adaptive efficiency, lions are more likely to fail than to succeed in the attempts to kill.

17. Conservation Status : As a result of widespread prosecution, cats in the wild have become one of the most threatened group of land animals. Nevertheless, the lion numbered perhaps 200,000 individuals in 1999. They are generally protected by enforcement laws as cited in the CITES Appendix II, "Species not presently threatened, but may become so unless trade is regulated.

18. Behaviors : Lions are the most social of the cat family. They live in prides consisting of one or two males, up to seven females and 14 or 15 cubs of different ages. Prides occupy territories that they defend against nomadic lions and other prides; this is done by the dominant male or males, by means of patrolling and scent marking. At about 3 years of age, young lions are evicted from their pride; they normally stay together, always on the move, becoming nomads, until they take over some other pride, whose male as become too weak or old, sometimes killing all the existing cubs. The female normally does all the hunting, usually at night, late afternoon or early morning. At a kill, the adults will eat first, with the male sometimes claiming it for himself, and, if anything left, the cubs will then take their turn. In times of scarcity this means very little food available for the cubs, and death by starvation. Scavengers, like vultures, hyenas and jackals, are attracted to lion kills in great numbers, and in some occasions a big group of hyenas will appropriate the kill of a small group of lions. The contrary also happens, with lions very often steeling from hyenas and jackals, and even climbing up a tree to appropriate a leopard's kill. Adult males can weight up to 250 Kg and females about 150 Kg. Their lifespan is about 15 years.

19. Population Areas : Kalahari desert, southern and western Africa, India