LIONS

The lion(panthera leo)is one of the big fivecats in the genus Panthera and a member of the family Felidae.The commonly used term African lion collectivelly denotes the several subspecies found in Africa. With some males exceeding 250kg(550lb)in weight,it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger.

Wild lions currently exist in the sub-saharan Africa and in Asia(where an endangengered remnant population resies in Gir Forest National Park in India)while other types of lions have disappeared from North Africa and Southwest Asia in historic times.Until the Pleistocene,about 10 00 years ago,the lion was the most widespread large land mammal after humans.They were found in most of Africa,across Eurasia from western Europe to India,and in the Americas from the Yukon to Peru.

The lion is a vulnerable species,having seena major population decline in its African range of 30 to50% per two decades during the second half of the twentieth century.Lion populations are untenable outside designated reserves and national parks.Although the cause of decline is not fully understood,habitat loss and conflicts with humans are currently the greatest of concern.Within Africa the West African lion population is particularly endengared

WHERE WILL YOU FIND THEM

You will find the lions at the pens E27, right next to the amphitheatre.