African lion.

Today we will talk about the powerful king of beasts, which is called the Lion, African Lion  . He lives in East Africa, in Kenya.

In the savannas of Africa of the genus panthera dominated for millions of years. With its outstanding power, excellent  jumping ability and excellent capacity for concerted action, the Lions are not afraid of anyone. They have a very strong body, a strong jaw and strong legs. No wonder the lion the king of beasts .

Weight of adult predators can reach 240 kilograms, lionesses - to stavosmidesyati. Lions form large family pride. And inspire fear and awe in the savanna inhabitants: they can handle any prey.

Mid-September in East Africa - the dry season. It's very hot, the ground is indented with deep cracks from lack of moisture. Herbivores rushed to places where there is more green. But this does not mean that superkoshki needing okolo7 pounds of meat a day without food. Successful hunting union, pride, must act consistently and strategize.

To date, most of the lions live in Africa, in the savannah. It is the second largest predator now living in the nature of cats. (The leading position is tiger).

Lions see everyone who is close to them, even in the dark. The secret lies in the structure of the eyes of predators. Immediately behind the retina is a layer of reflective cells. Thus, the beam of light is refracted and enhances all that it sees a predator. The human eye does not have that ability. This is one of the reasons why the cat is guided in the dark six times better than humans. For the same reason cats eyes glow in the dark.

But in the face of predators is still far more powerful night vision - a mustache. When an animal is stolen in search of prey, his nostrils moving, and his mustache pointing forward. These "antennae" are so sensitive that they pick up even the slightest vibrations in the air. Bundle of nerves, each whisker sends signals to the brain and tells him about the situation.

When a big cat stalking prey, it usually waits and watches. She can stand still until 9:00, trying to learn about all the victim. When production finally caught, his party again perform mustache predator: they transmit information to the brain about the state of the victim, of its power where it hurt, even in the place better bite.

Lions always hunt in groups. Pride of lions, and it is predominantly nocturnal hunters, surrounds the victims, as a team of special forces.

Hard to believe, but some 10,000 years ago, the lion was the most widespread mammal on Earth (after humans).

Then still in the wild and lived a white lion , who has been the World Red Book of endangered animals admitted.

 Over the past twenty years, the number of lions has decreased by almost 50%. This is despite the fact that the terrible beast has virtually no enemies. Predators themselves often strike each other fatal wounds. 80% of the cubs  die before reaching one year of age: kittens are attracted by the smell of buffalo, jackals, hyenas.There are cases when the giraffes were demolished in a fight predators attacking their hooves down. African lion today belongs to the vulnerable species of animals because of the irreversible reduction of the size of their population.