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The loss of lions has a negative effect on Africa’s fragile ecosystems. Lions play an important role in the food chain, helping to regulate numbers of the more dominant herbivore species, such as zebra and buffalo. Without lions to control them, these species can out-compete other animals, causing their extinction and reducing biodiversity.
THREATS
To best meet the challenges facing remnant lion populations we should be clear about the causes of their continuing decline and the threats to their survival.
Loss of habitat and natural prey
Conflict with humans and livestock
Unsustainable trophy hunting and trade in lion parts
Disease and climate change
Inbreeding Depression
Lionesses do not mate outside the pride. The pride may have from one to four dominant males, and the lioness mates with any one of them. A pride's lionesses often synchronize their breeding so that several have litters of cubs around the same time, so they can cooperate in rearing the cubs. When breeding commences, a male and female lion sometimes forsake eating and copulate every half hour, up to 40 or 50 times a day. After 108 to 110 days, the pregnant lioness leaves the pride to give birth alone in an isolated cave or thicket. The cubs are born blind and helpless and are unable to walk until they are about 3 weeks old. During this time, the lioness fends for herself, remaining nearby the cubs to protect them. Young lion cubs face danger from such predators as leopards, hyenas, jackals, eagles and snakes, and their mortality rate is high.
Integration of the cubs into the pride is easier if other lionesses have given birth to cubs of similar age. If there are older cubs, the larger ones dominate the smaller ones when feeding on kills, and there is a risk that the younger cubs might die of starvation. At 6 to 7 months, the cubs are weaned, and they reach sexual maturity when they are about 3 or 4 years old. At that time, males are expelled from the pride, although females usually are permitted to remain
according to this food web the lion is the third consumer
Lions mostly inhabit grassland regions, shrubby, forested, mountainous and semi-desert habitats. In Africa, the sub-Sahara region is home to most lions. The grassland offers the ultimate habitation due to adequate cover and an established prey base. Lions do not hibernate because they can live in regions that rise to 4240 meters in altitude. However, they are not capable of living in tropical rainforests and deserts. African lions live in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. They wander a territory of 100 square miles (259 square kilometers), according to National Geographic. This territory consists of scrub, grasslands or open woodlands. Asiatic lions are found only in the Gir Forest National Park in India. This park is a wildlife sanctuary on 877.37 square miles (1,412 square km) of land. The land includes a deciduous forest, grasslands, scrub jungle and rocky hills.
The lion hunts and eats impalas, wildebeest, gazelles and zebras as well as smaller animals. The female lions typically do most of the hunting because they are smaller and do not have the huge mane that the male lions have. Most lions hunt in groups, but they can and will hunt alone when it is necessary. When the lions are not hunting, they tend to sleep. Lions will spend as many as 20 hours each day sleeping.
The lions are able to attack their prey with retractable claws and their sharp teeth. They don't have to worry about animals struggling and fighting back because they have loose skin around their abdomen to protect their stomach. They also have tongues that are able to quickly remove flesh from the bone. Most lions live within the grasslands and wooded areas of southern Africa. Unfortunately, despite the lion's importance to its ecosystem, the lion is considered "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to habitat destruction.
The African lion is a large predator and part of the mammal group and can grow and weigh approximately 3.5 - 4 ft tall and can weigh from 265-500 lbs. A lion have a fur of hair and gives birth to live young called cubs. Their fur is golden brown and the males are bigger and weigh more than the females. The males do have manes and the females don't but have lighter fur.
The common name is the African Lion and its scientific name is Panthera Leo. The African Lion is vulnerable at this time, which means they are almost endangered and its taxonomy is as listed below.
A. Kingdom - Metazoa
B. Phylum - Chordata
C. Subphylum - Vertebrata
D. Class - Mammalia
E. Order - Carnivora
F. Family - Felidae
G. Genus - Panthera
I. Species - Leo