King of the Savannah

The lion has long been referred to as the "King of the Jungle." As the largest African cat, weighing up to 500 pounds, and since they're at the top of the African food chain, I understand why they're called the King. They are magnificent and powerful creatures who can take food from anyone else. But they don't live in the jungle. They live in the African savannah -- the grasslands. So, I'm going to start a new nickname for these beautiful kitties!

In 1975, there were over 200,000 lions living in the wild on the African continent. By 2002, they numbered between 23,000 and 39,000 – this represents a decline of 90% in less than 30 years!

While in Zimbabwe, I spent some time with an organization that works with captive-born lions.

I was able to get up close and personal and observe their behavior.

I was thankful for the fence!

The organization has fenced land where they release captive-born lions in hopes that they will learn wild behaviors and eventually their offspring can be released back into the wild. I was able to spend a few hours with a researcher who was comparing the behavior of wild-born and these, captive-born lions.

First, I was loaded into the “terrestrial shark cage” for safety.

Then we headed out into the 500 acre savannah grassland enclosure to find the pride of lions he is studying.

It took us 40 minutes of driving to locate them, but eventually, we spotted the male walking toward us.

Then we saw the first female of the pride.

This pride has 12 lions: the adult male, 6 adult females, a 15-month old cub, 2 five-month old cubs, and 2 six-month old cubs.

The lions are living without human intervention but in a controlled environment. They live with wild game (mainly wildebeest and zebras) but without any other predators to compete for food. They hunt every 2-3 days since there is an abundance of game (wild lions can go a week or more without a kill). Interestingly, the game is purchased and restocked regularly. An adult zebra is $950 and an adult wildebeest is $650. (I was surprised that you can buy a zebra for less than many people pay for a puppy!)

We spent several hours observing the lions. They were completely indifferent to our presence.

For the most part, during the day, lions sleep.

But, the cubs can be quite playful.

They love to explore new places. . .

. . .and mimic dad. . .

There was one story the researcher shared that fascinated me. A lion’s roar can be heard for up to 5 miles. There are captive lions near this enclosure that roar every day. Despite the fact that all lion roars sound powerful and frightening to me, lions can differentiate between the roars of different animals. There are captive lions near this enclosure that roar each night. Recently, they played a tape of a wild lion roaring outside the 500 acre enclosure. The male lion immediately woke up and ran to the fence and paced back and forth looking for this new lion coming too close to his territory. Five of the females followed and one female gathered the cubs and ran in the opposite direction. Amazing. It seems protection of territory and of young are instincts even in captive-born lions!

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