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Africa - Fact files

Back to Africa - Fact files

African lion

  • Best feature

  • Their manes – the impressive fringe of long hair that encircles their heads. Only male lions have these.

  • Size

  • Head and body are 1.4 – 2m and they weigh 120 to 191kg.

African lion

African lion

  • Favourite food

  • Lions are meat-eaters. Most of their diet is made up of antelopes, zebra and wildebeest, which they hunt for in groups, but they will eat almost any animal, from rodents to a rhino. They also scavenge, scaring off other predators (like hyenas) from their food and taking it for themselves.

  • Home

  • Lions are found in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. They are very adaptable and live in all kinds of different habitats. The only habitats you won’t find them in are tropical rainforest and the middle of the Sahara desert.

African lion

African lion

  • Current population

  • Nobody’s really sure how many there are, but they’re decreasing. There are likely to be between 29,000 and 47,000.

  • Biggest threat

  • The main threats to lions are hunting (mostly when people hunt them to protect their families and livestock), loss of prey and habitat loss.

  • That’s a fact!

  • Lions are the only cats which live in large groups called ‘prides’.

  • Listen

    Hear an African lion

  • Watch

    Watch some lions in this video
    from our friends at ARKive.

  • African lion
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