The Tribune...Sunday Reading

Chandigarh, Sunday, July 19, 1998

......................................FEATURE
His royal majesty, the lion
By Thakur Paramjit
His royal majesty, the lion, the king of the beasts, is a very graceful and intelligent animal. It possesses incredible strength, a noble face, strong reasoning powers, and a dignified gait full of self-confidence. Its personality is enhanced by a long stately mane hanging around its neck. When the word ‘Lion” tingles into our ears, we immediately think in terms of power coupled with beauty and grace. Almost all people are fascinated by the lion. It has been considered a symbol of power since times immemorial. On the whole, the lion is good-natured and lazy creature, who kills only when he is hungry. It never kills for fun-sake.
Lion most probably originated in Asia from where it travelled to Africa many ages ago. So much so, that now its name is usually associated with Africa. In Asia, only a limited number of lions are found in Gir forest in India. Lion belongs to cat family. Like other cats, it has been bestowed with hair in its ears. These hair are capable of catching minute vibration in the air; and thus, the lion knows about the movement of other animals, which it has not yet seen. It has moist nose and can smell extremely well. It possesses retractile claws. The claws are retracted while moving, enabling it to move silently on its padded paws. It has a small bone in its shoulder, which is slightly curved and detached. This bone does not perform any function.
The average length of a lion is nine feet and that of a lioness eight feet, including the tail. However, the handsomeness of the animal does not always depend on its length. Moreover, the length of the tail has got no fixed ratio with the length of the body. Lions are very greedy eaters. They can consume remarkably huge quantity of meat at one sitting. So, naturally, their weight varies by 15-20 kg depending on the fact whether they are well fed or hungry. Generally the weight of big male lion is about 200 kg and that of a big lioness is about 150 kg.The mane of the African lion is more prominent as compared to that of its Asiatic counterpart. However, Asiatic species have larger elbows and tail turfs.
Lion is a very social animal. It is the only member of the cat family who lives and hunts in groups called ‘prides’. The male personifies slackness. It may be due to the fact that lionesses do all the work, including hunting. The main duties of a male are procreation, controlling the ‘pride’, and fighting the other males who infiltrate into its territory. Thus the lion is a warrior whereas the lioness is hunter. The number of animals in a ‘pride’ varies. It usually consists of one big male lion (head of the family), lionesses of different ages, adolescent lions and cubs. When an adolescent lion becomes old enough to be a rival to his father in having sexual intercourse with some lioness of the ‘pride’, he is driven away by the father. He will then form a ‘bachelor pride’ with a couple of other male lions who have also been shunted out from their ‘prides’, and lead the life of nomads. It has also been seen in some cases that young animals — both lions and lionesses — leave a ‘pride’ voluntarily and live together. Members of the same ‘pride’ have friendly behaviour with one another, and they greet each other by rubbing cheeks. However, while eating a prey they may become aggressive.
No mating period is fixed. A lioness can come into heat at any time of the year. It is a common belief that a lion and a lioness pair for life. But it is not true. It has been observed that on coming in season, the lioness retires to a secluded place, accompanied by the nearest available big male. Sometimes a lioness is seen in the company of two or three eligible males, but mating takes place with one of them — the strongest of the lot. During his ‘honeymoon’ the lion is a fierce animal who does not tolerate any kind of intrusion. The mating bout may last from a few hours to a couple of days during which a number of couplings take place. When the mating is over, the couple returns to join the pride.
Cubs are born approximately 108 days after mating. The average number of cubs in a litter is four. This is contrary to the common belief that a lioness gives birth to one cub only. The size of litter depends on the easy availability of food. The cubs have dark spots and stripes which disappear when they grow older. The body is covered with soft fur.

Often the eyes of newly born babies remain closed for the first six days. The mother leaves them hidden while going for procuring food. They form a sub-group and hunt separately from the ‘pride’. This has got two advantages. Firstly, the cubs are saved from the wrath of senior males; and secondly, it is easy for the small group to kill and feed on small animals. The cubs have the liberty to suck milk of any lactating lioness of the ‘pride’. The mother is very hostile to anything that comes in the vicinity of the cubs, and which it thinks would cause harm to them. Her toleration power is very little and she is very terrifying.
Lions kill and eat monkeys, baboons, even rats if they are very hungry. However, they will not prey on any animal of the dog family. They also like fish and take it out of shallow water with their paws.The lion is the only cat which hunts in groups. While doing so, it exhibits its intelligence and capacity to organise the things. When the prey is noticed, immediately the whole ‘pride’ lies down. Then it is divided into two groups —one of hunters and the other of hawkers. Mostly females do the hunting, and the big male takes his “lion’s share” of the kill. When they intend to kill a big beast, say a giraffe, the male also takes part. All their prey species run faster than they do. Thus lions have to camouflage till they reach near the prey. Then they add the element of surprise. They cannot afford to let the prey reach its maximum speed. On reaching near the prey, the hawkers show themselves, frightening the prey and compelling it to run in the direction where the hunting party is lying in ambush. With its tail erect and uttering low growls, the lion/lioness charges at its prey from the side or rear, sinking its teeth deep into its neck. It twists the head of the victim backwards, thus throwing it on the ground and breaking its neck.
Circumstances force some lions to become man-eaters. Basically lion dislikes human odour. The animal responsible for making a lion a man-eater, as also for its pre-mature death, is the porcupine. Thinking it to be an easy prey, the young inexperienced lion attacks it. Consequently, its sharp quills penetrate into the lion’s paw, making him partially incapable of hunting. The condition may also be the result of a severe fight with another lion, or a hunting accident. Thus crippled, the lion or lioness is not able to kill its natural prey, and lives on whatever is easily available. Then if by chance it comes across some human being, who runs away on seeing the lion, it would chase and try to kill the person. On finding that it is comparatively very easy to kill a man, the lion will become a man-eater to save itself from starvation. In some cases, a lion may also become a man-eater if it has not eaten anything for the last many days, thus hunger overpowering the natural fear of man.
Lion — the graceful and supreme-powered animal of the forest — passes a very sad old age, and ultimately has a pathetic end. The average age of a lion is 16 or 17 years. No animal dares to challenge the supremacy of the lion during its youth, but when it grows old, it has to lead a solitary life. The older male is driven away from the ‘pride’ by some powerful younger male. Females live with the ‘pride’ for longer periods. But finally they too are not able to catch their natural prey, and their fate is similar to that of the lion. He passes the remaining days of his life by catching small mammals. But as the days pass he becomes more and more weak. At last, abandoned by the ‘pride’, and unable to find food of any kind, he lies down. At one time, hyenas and jackals would have fled on seeing him, but now they will come to prey on him. A heart-touching sad spectacle of departed glory.