African lions are fierce predators that often stalk their prey before attacking. On a Kenya game viewing driving you will most likely see the big five and if lucky you can see an animal hunt. Lions cause their prey to panic and disperse before attacking which allows the lions to isolate and attack a weaker or slower prey. Living in the grasslands, scrub, and open woodlands of sub-Saharan #Africa, the lion is the second largest cat in the world. It is dwarfed slightly by the tiger, which is closely related and has a very similar body type.
What makes the African #Safari experience unique is; one does not know what to expect when out on a game viewing drive.
#Wildlife at their best. The kill. By hunting as a pride, lions are able to exhaust and kill their prey. The most frequently used killing method is suffocation. A single lion will often get a good bite on its victim’s throat, and crush the windpipe. Especially when killing large prey, one lion in the pride will clamp its mouth over its victim’s nose and mouth while the other lions hold it down.
Unlike other cats, lions are very social animals. They live in prides. A pride consists of up to three males, a dozen related females, and their young. The size of the pride is determined by the availability of food and water. If resources are scarce, the pride becomes smaller.
Pride members keep track of one another by roaring. Both males and females have a very powerful roar that can be heard up to 8 km (5 mi.) away.
Males and females take on very different roles in the pride. Male lions spend their time guarding their territory and their cubs. They maintain the boundaries of their territory, by roaring, marking it with urine, and chasing off intruders. Their thick manes, a unique trait to male lions, protect their necks when they fight with challengers.
Lion top speed. Of some significance here is the fact that they’re not very fast animals, while by contrast, the animals they hunt are some of the fastest in the wild. A wildebeest can achieve a top speed of somewhere around 80 kph and maintain it effortlessly and even a humble wart hog can manage almost 50kph. In fact such is the disparity between predator and prey that many of the faster species don’t even bother to run away at full speed, which must be galling to say the least. Travel to Kenya can be very rewarding as it is an iconic wildlife destination
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