Animal · Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa
Lion
Panthera leo — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The lion is a huge wild cat that lives in prides on the grassy plains of Africa. It is famous as the 'king of the jungle', even though it actually hunts on open savannas, not in jungles.
Picture credit: Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the lion live?
Home: Grassy savannas and open woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa.
In the wild you find it in: Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique.
Conservation status from the IUCN: vulnerable.
The short profile
Fully grown it measures up to 2.5 m long, plus a 1 m tail. It weighs about 190 kilograms. On the menu: meat.
The story behind it
Lions are the only cats that live in family groups, called prides, of up to 15 animals. Lionesses do most of the hunting, working together to chase down zebras and wildebeest, while males guard the territory and are easy to spot thanks to their thick mane. A lion can sleep up to 20 hours a day to save energy between hunts. Sadly, lion numbers have dropped by about half in the last 25 years because their grassland homes are shrinking and they sometimes come into conflict with farmers, so many now live only inside protected parks.
Find it on the globe
Lion is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
Why do lions live in groups?
Lions live in prides because hunting together lets them catch large prey like zebras and buffalo that one lion could not take down alone. Group life also helps them raise cubs and defend territory more safely.
How fast can a lion run?
A lion can sprint up to about 80 km/h, but only for a very short burst. It has to get close to its prey by sneaking through grass first, because it cannot keep up that speed for long.
Are lions endangered?
Lions are classed as vulnerable, meaning their numbers are shrinking and they could become endangered. Habitat loss and conflict with people are the main reasons, and today most lions live inside protected reserves.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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