Latest Lions Stories
Seven lion cubs, born to sister lionesses Shera and Naba last year at the National Zoo in Washington DC, are about to turn seven and eight months old, and will soon be separated."We still call them cubs and we still think of them as toddlers," said lion keeper Rebecca Stites. But if their mother wasn't there for them, "they wouldn't do so well on their own."Still, their youth is short-lived. Experts will hold a matchmaking meeting in the coming weeks to decide where the lions will spend...
Elephants pay close attention to their elders, especially when they hear the sound of an approaching predator, researchers report in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.Researchers already knew that elephant social groups were organized around older female elephants. This study however, led by Karen McComb and Graeme Shannon from the University of Sussex, UK, allowed scientists to test their theory inside the Amboseli National Park in Kenya, a natural setting for the wild elephants, BBC...
WASHINGTON, March 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, a coalition of wildlife groups--International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Humane Society International (HSI), Born Free USA, Born Free Foundation and Defenders of Wildlife--filed a petition with the Department of Interior to list African lions as Endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). The population and range of the African lion are in alarming decline. Over the...
By Daniel Stolte, University of Arizona CommunicationsFor the first time, mountain lions and bobcats have been photographed as part of an in-depth monitoring study in the Tucson Mountains, a small island of habitat facing increasing segregation from surrounding natural areas because of urban sprawl and road construction.Using infrared-triggered cameras at 65 sites, UA researchers captured 36 photographs of mountain lions roaming the Tucson Mountains. The study confirmed that lions in at least...
LAS VEGAS, Aug. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Mirage introduced its newest additions, two 7-week-old, white-striped tiger cubs, to Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat this week. Guests can see these rare and adorable cubs in a special nursery created just for them. The sibling brothers, Mohan and Majestic, were born June 22 and weighed approximately two pounds each at birth. Their mother and father, part of Siegfried & Roy's breeding program, are carriers of the...
The endangered Asiatic Lion, which once thrived in southwest Asia before being forced to congregate in a small forest in western India, is starting to make a comeback thanks to the efforts of local conservationists, according to media reports on Monday.Fewer than 200 were believed to be in existence in the late 1960s. However, that number as more than doubled, as 411 Asiatic Lions are now believed to live in India's Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary - a growth rate that Gujarat Chief...
San Francisco Bay's now famous herd of sea lions has mysteriously begun vanishing as quickly and inexplicably as they appeared, leaving behind throngs of disappointed tourists and puzzled marine biologists, according to a recent Associated Press report.A mere month ago, a record 1,500 of the massive marine hunters were making their abode on the Bay City's famous Pier 39. Yet just days after the Thanksgiving holiday, the bustling troop of 800-pound behemoths began leaving en masse.Marine...
Despite their fearsome fangs, male sabertoothed cats may have been less aggressive than many of their feline cousins, says a new study of male-female size differences in extinct big cats.Commonly called the sabertoothed tiger, Smilodon fatalis was a large predatory cat that roamed North and South America about 1.6 million to 10,000 years ago, when there was also a prehistoric cat called the American lion. A study appearing in the November 5 issue of the Journal of Zoology examined size...
Scientists now believe that the two infamous man-eating lions of Tsavo, which allegedly claimed 135 victims during railroad construction in Kenya in 1898, may have only killed around 35 people. Lt. Col. John H. Patterson, a British officer who killed the lions in December, 1898, claimed the lions killed 135 people in nightly attacks and halted work on the 1898 railway expansion.The Ugandan Railway Company argued that only 28 people were killed, but the detailed description of Patterson's...
PITTSBURGH, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Pittsburgh's oldest bank announced today the Phase I launch of a major restoration project and overhaul of its historic 1871 building on Fourth Avenue, downtown Pittsburgh, beginning with the removal of its symbolic lions. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090910/NE73972LOGO ) The two signature lions adorning the original building will be removed on Saturday, September 12, for a complete restoration and replacement that is estimated to take...
Latest Lions Reference Libraries
Commonly known as the Eurasian cave lion or the European cave lion, Panthera leo spelaea is an extinct subspecies of lion. It is thought to have lived during the Pleistocene epoch, and may have lived in the Balkans in southeastern Europe until 2,000 years ago. The range of this cave lion would have included northwestern North America, Asia, and areas of Europe and would have extended from Germany, Spain, and Great Britain to the Yukon Territory. Its range also extended from Turkistan to...
The Masai lion (Panthera leo nubica), also known as the East African Lion, is a subspecies of the African lion. It can be found in Eastern areas of Africa. Males reach an average body length between 8.2 and 9.8 feet, including the tail, with a weight between 320 and 440 pounds. Masai lions located in northeastern Africa are often classified with P. nubica, which include Tsavo lions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsavo_lion), and these are known to produce males with no manes. The Masai lion...
The Transvaal lion or the Southeast African lion (Panthera leo krugeri) is subspecies of the lion. It can be found in southern Africa, with a range that includes the Kalahari Region and Kruger National Park. This species was named after the Transvaal region of southern Africa, where it is thought that the closely related and extinct Cape lion represented the southern population of the species. Males can reach an average body length between 8.5 and 10.4 feet, with a weight of up to 551...
The American lion (Panthera leo atrox or P. atrox) is also known as the North American lion, American cave lion, or Naegele’s giant jaguar. It is an extinct species that was native to North America and the northwestern parts of South America during the Pleistocene era. It lived up to eleven thousand years ago. During the last interglacial period in North America (the Sangamonian Stage), the American lion’s range included the Americas south of Alaska. The earliest fossils of these big cats...
The Barbary Lion, Panthera leo leo, also known as the Atlas Lion or Nubian Lion, is an extinct subspecies of lion. It was believed to also be extinct in captivity. However, possible individuals or descendants have been located in zoos and circus populations within the last 3 decades. The last known Barbary Lion in the wild was shot in the Atlas Mountains in 1922. Their range extended from Morocco to Libya and throughout Egypt in North Africa. It is considered to be one of the largest of...
