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Molars and premolars are used for gripping and tearing. The upper
premolar has two purposes: there is a sharp cutting edge and the
anterior end of the tooth is tough enough to crush bone.
 Lions have 4 canines and are used primarily for grabbing and killing
their prey.
 Lions cannot chew with the up and down mobility in which humans
do, they can only move their jaw in vertical movements. Due to this
restriction you will often find lions tilting their heads to the side to
chew food.
Have the kids pretend they are eating to show how their jaw moves.
Compare that to the lion.?
African Lion
Possible bio facts included: lion hide, lion skull, lion claw, whiskers,
hairball, domestic cat hairball, zebra hide, oryx horn, any hoof stock skull
Note: The Zoo Lion Touch Cart needs no skull as the teeth can be seen
as part of the hide. Refer to the Lion Fact Sheet for further behaviors.
Lion claw: Show in container, do not remove
Retractable, razor sharp. Lions are able to take down prey three times
their size.
Theme ideas
1.Are lions really “King of the Jungle?”.
2.Lions may enjoy a variety of menu items.
3.Lions are the most social of the big cat family.
Lion whiskers: Show in container, may remove one for touch
Shed normally the same as the overall hair.
?Do you have a house cat? Ever find a whisker from your house cat?
Probably not, lion whiskers, though used the same way as your house
cat, are just much larger. The keepers are able to see them on the floor
of their building when cleaning.
BioFact Details
Lion hide: Public can touch.
 Lions have very short and soft fur due to their daily grooming.
 Male lions have long shaggy manes attaching to their skin and extend
from the forehead to the nape of the neck.
 A male lion’s mane is somewhat of a status symbol. At a kill, the
lion with the largest mane often eats first. If another male spots a
large maned lion on the horizon, he will often keep his distance. Manes may also buffer the males from bites and slashes during fights.
The mane starts to become visible around 2 years of age.
 Sandy coloring of the coat helps the lion to blend in with the dry
grasses of the savannah.
Lion hairball: Show in container, do not remove
A hairball is formed when hair collects in the stomach and is compacted
during grooming. Some of the hair passes normally but during heavy
shedding a hairball will form. The hairball irritates the stomach and then
is coughed up just like your house cat will do.
Lion skull & teeth: Docent holds and shows public
 All felid skulls (large cats) have a short face with a small nasal cavity
and a short jaw length.
 Lions as well as all other large cats have a total of 30 teeth with the
following dental formula:
I=3/3, C=1/1, Pm=3/2, M=1/2
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Lions – Culture Info for Wildlife Museum exhibit
 Lions drew the chariot of the Roman goddess Juno.
 In the Hindu belief the lion represents Durga as destroyer of
demons.
 Buddhists have the lion as Defender of the Law and Buddha
sits on a lion throne.
 The ancient Chinese believed a lion took human form and
fought in their wars.
 Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess of Egyptian myths guarded
against disease and disaster.
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without tiring or slowing down.
The zebra’s acute senses of sight, hearing and smell enable the
zebra to detect predators before they attack. Zebras often stand
next to each other, each facing a different direction, when scouting
for predators.
Mutual grooming by herd members helps to develop and preserve
family bonds.
Travel pace is adjusted to accommodate the young, old and the
weak herd members.
Oryx horn: Public can touch
Their horns are shaped like swords but do little to protect them against
the grip of a lion.
Prey BioFacts :
Oryx quick facts:
 Scimitar horned oryx are endangered due to over hunting, habitat
loss due to agriculture, and livestock grazing.
 As of 1996, the only populations of scimitar-horned oryx still existing in the oryx’s former range were vagrants in a reserve in Chad
and a reintroduced population in a national park in Tunisia.
 Both male and female oryx have 3-4 foot long horns.
 Oryx typically live in large groups of 20-40 animals or more.
 Females often keep the calves concealed in brush to protect them
from predators. As the calves grow older, they may begin to associate with other calves in groups called crèches. Calves nurse until
they are 4½ months old.
Any Hoof stock skull: Docent holds and shows public
Compare skull with lion skull. Point out teeth differences, eye placement, jaw structure.
Hoof stock grind their diet of vegetation (sometimes twice). Their
teeth are flatter and their lower jaw attaches higher on their skull allowing for mobility while they ‘chew their cud’.
Zebra hide: Public can touch
A favorite meal.
?How do zebra protect themselves from the lions?
They have a powerful kick but also their stripes confuse the lions when
the zebra are in herds. The lion can become disorientated and not be
able to pick out just one to attack.
Zebra quick facts:
 Zebras have shiny coats that dissipate over 70 percent of incoming
heat. Some scientists believe that these stripes may help the zebra
withstand the intense heat of the sun and protect the zebra from
blood-sucking insects.
 The black and white stripes are a form of camouflage called disruptive coloration that breaks up the outline of the body and confuses predators by distorting true distance and shape.
 A zebra can gallop 35 miles per hour or more. Their long legs,
muscular bodies and large lung enable them to run long distances
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AFRICAN LION
Special features:
 Lions can run at speeds over 30 mph, but only over short distances.
 A lion’s roar can be heard up to 5 miles away. Roaring is believed to have a territorial function and to help animals locate
each other.
 Lions live in large groups called prides. No other type of wild
cat forms such large family groups. Members of a pride will
greet each other with friendly gestures by rubbing their heads, or
even their whole bodies, against each other in a manner similar to
that of a domestic cat greeting its owner. Social grooming is also
important in the pride.
Phylum: Chordata, Class: Mammalia, Order: Carnivora, Family: Felidae
Panthera leo
Lions have long been admired for their beauty and strength.
While they are often called the “king of beasts”, it is actually the females, the lionesses, that form the basis of the lion social structure, the
pride.
Length: 7 - 10 feet
Weight: 200 - 500 pounds
Lifespan: 15 years on average; sometimes longer in captivity
Habitat: savannas, open woodlands, and scrub country
Range: The African lion was once found throughout the entire African continent. However, populations are “becoming increasingly
fragmented and only those in national parks and preserves are likely to
survive” (AZA).
Social organization & Behavior:

Status:
 ENDANGERED (some subspecies)
 There are 2 types of lions in the world, African and Asian.
 African lions are being forced into increasingly smaller areas and
many populations are becoming isolated. Some subspecies have
become endangered.
 Asian lions have been reduced to a group of 200 (or fewer) animals found only in the Gir Forest Sanctuary in India.

Threats to survival:
Habitat destruction has been the main cause of the decrease in
population for both African and Asian lions. As wild lands are converted to farms and ranches, wild prey become scarce. Lions have
also been killed because they are perceived as a threat to domestic
livestock. Wild populations of African lions have experienced outbreaks of canine distemper virus. Some scientists fear that restricting
lions to small areas in parks and reserves may result in inbreeding and
loss of genetic viability.
Diet in the wild: Lions hunt prey ranging in size from 100 - 1,000
pounds - zebra, buffalo, wild boars, wildebeest, giraffe, impala, and
other antelope. Lions may also steal prey from other animals.
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Females and their young form the basis of the pride. Females
in a pride are usually related. Mothers, daughters, aunts, and
cousins often live in the same pride for their entire life. Females
are not dominant to males, but are in charge of finding water
sources, moving the pride, and deciding where to sleep. Females
also do most of the hunting.
Males are usually driven out of their mothers’ prides at about 2.5
to 3 years of age. They usually form a coalition with other males
from their birth pride and seek out a pride to take over. Therefore, the males in a pride are often brothers or half-brothers.
Males within the same pride will not usually fight each other over
breeding rights to a female. It is to their advantage not to fight
these other animals that are often their relatives. However, males
of the same pride will join together to fight strange males.
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Males in a pride may be overthrown as frequently as every 3
years.
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While pride members share a common territory and greet each
other in a friendly manner when they meet, not all of the pride
members may be seen in the same place at the same time. Pride
members are often scattered over the pride’s territory in smaller
groups.

The average size of a pride’s territory is 40-50 square miles.

Territories are scent marked with urine, feces, and head rubbing. Roaring may also have a territorial function. Claw mark-
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
ing on trees and other ‘signposts’ may also play an important role
in marking territories. While urine marking is mainly a male behavior, both sexes perform the “scuffing ceremony”, in which the
lion rakes the ground 2-30 times with the hind feet, with or without urinating.
Lions hunt by slowly stalking their prey. They will carefully
creep within 30-60 feet of their prey, then make a final rush and
leap on their victim. Generally, if the prey cannot be caught within a chase of 150-300 feet, the lion tires and gives up. However,
there have been reports of lions chasing prey for up to 1500 feet.
years of age.
Efforts to save lions:
Captive breeding programs such as the American Zoo and
Aquarium Association’s Species Survival Plan (SSP) work to help
save lions. SSPs are special programs designed by a team of zoo and
wildlife professionals. The plans outline breeding programs, work to
increase public awareness and education, help conduct research, and
in some cases, organize programs to reintroduce captive-bred wildlife
into secure habitats. The lion SSP includes both the Asian and African subspecies.
Females usually do the hunting and will often hunt in groups.
One “team” will circle around and get in front of the prey. A second team will then scare the prey, causing it to run into the first
team of lions. Not all hunts are successful, but a group has a
much better chance of successfully capturing prey than does a
lone hunting lion.
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Lions are most active at night. Occasionally they will hunt during
the day.
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Lions may spend up to 20 hours per day just lying around.
African lions are protected in parks and reserves in Africa,
such as Kruger National Park in South Africa, Kenya’s Amboseli National Park and Serengeti National Park. The only remaining wild
population of Asian lions is protected in the Gir Forest Sanctuary in
India.
Breeding & Care of Young:

Lions reach sexual maturity at 2 - 4 years of age, but often continue to grow until they are 5 years old.

Gestation = 3.5 months. Litter size = 1 - 5 cubs, average = 2 - 3
cubs. Cubs generally weigh less than 5 pounds at birth.

Births can occur year round, but generally, all of the lions in a
pride will give birth at about the same time. All of the females in
a pride will help care for the cubs. A female will allow offspring
which are not hers to nurse from her.
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In the wild, a cub’s chances of surviving to age 2 may be as low
as one in five. Hyenas and leopards may prey on cubs or debilitated adults. Infanticide by male lions has only been directly observed in a few cases when males took over new territories. Otherwise, males are usually tolerant of the young in their pride.

Cubs begin to take part in kills at 11 months of age, but are still
dependent on adults for food up to 16 months. They are probably
not capable of surviving on their own until they are closer to 2
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