Lions do have a very interesting social structure, with a dominant male overseeing a group of females that bear his cubs. The females go hunting and give care to the young while the male defends the group from invaders (other males challenging him or sneaky predators like hyenas!) and occasionaly helps out with hunting very large/dangerous prey.
So in essence, as there is only one male in a pride and he tends to be quite dominant, you could call him a Lion King! The females act very co-operatively and are generally considered equals so there isn;t a ‘queen’ per se.
Infanticide is very common in lion prides. This means that when a new male group comes in and takes over the females, they will kill any of the cubs who were fathered by the outgoing males.
Controversially, it’s been suggested that one way of improving the population of lions in the savannah would be to allow some trophy hunting (tourists paying to shoot the lions). As long as tourists are only allowed to shoot a small number of males ages over 5 years, this could reduce rates of infanticide and mean more cubs survive until adulthood. I guess this wouldn’t go down well as Disney sequel though… π
Incidentally, if you want to know how old a lion is, the best way is to look how freckled their nose is. Older lions have more freckles on their nose!
The Lion King is such a cute film, I don’t think any animals have the politics and problems we have and donβt have the time to worry about who is a King and Queen because they just do what they have to do to survive.
Comments
Charlotte commented on :
Infanticide is very common in lion prides. This means that when a new male group comes in and takes over the females, they will kill any of the cubs who were fathered by the outgoing males.
Controversially, it’s been suggested that one way of improving the population of lions in the savannah would be to allow some trophy hunting (tourists paying to shoot the lions). As long as tourists are only allowed to shoot a small number of males ages over 5 years, this could reduce rates of infanticide and mean more cubs survive until adulthood. I guess this wouldn’t go down well as Disney sequel though… π
Incidentally, if you want to know how old a lion is, the best way is to look how freckled their nose is. Older lions have more freckles on their nose!
Jo commented on :
The Lion King is such a cute film, I don’t think any animals have the politics and problems we have and donβt have the time to worry about who is a King and Queen because they just do what they have to do to survive.
befrorke commented on :
hello sophie, i indeed enjoy the lion king(y)
sofoconnor commented on :
Hakuna Matata
seas122 commented on :
Hakuna Matata! Ain’t no passing craze
It means no worries for the rest of your days
It’s our problem-free philosophy
Hakuna Matata!