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AMPHIBIANS:
Pac Man Frog
BIRDS:
Chickens
Cockatoo, Sulfer Crested
Chinese Geese
Ducks
Helmeted Guinea Fowl
Macaw, Blue & Yellow
Miniature Macaw
Parrot, Amazon
MAMMALS:
Black Bear
Bobcat
Capuchin, Black & White
Coati Mundis
Cougar
Deer, Fallow
Ferrets
Goat (Pygmy)
Hedgehog
Lemur, Ringtailed
Leopard, black
Liger
Lion (African)
Lion (Barbary)
Macaque, Java
Macaque, Snow
Marmoset
Pig
Sheep
Tiger (Bengal)
Tiger (Siberian)
Vervet
Wolves
Zebra
REPTILES:
Alligator
Anaconda
Bearded Dragon
Boa, Columbian
California King Snake
Corn Snake
Iguana
Lizard, African Plated
Python, Burmese
Python, Reticulated
Python, Royal
Skink, Blue Tongue
Tortoise, Spurred
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| African
Lion
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| DESCRIPTION: |
Typically
a mature male stands 4 feet at the shoulder and is 8 .5 feet long,
plus tail. He'll average 450 pounds. Females are considerable smaller,
weighing less than 300 pounds. Adult lions usually have a plain unspotted
coat, light brown to dark ochre in color. Cubs are marked with spots
which sometimes persist on the legs and belly until they are fully
grown. Male lions have a brown mane, which tends to grow darker and
fuller as the animal ages. The tail has a black tuft at the end. "White"
lions occasionally occur in the Transvaal region of southern Africa,
but these are not true albinos.
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| GEOGRAPHICAL
RANGE AND HABITAT: |
Thousands
of years ago, lions were common throughout southern Europe, southern
Asia, eastern and central India and over the whole of the African
continent. Today, with the exception of some 300 highly protected
animals in the Gir National Park of India, the only naturally-occuring
lions are found in Africa. (But even in Africa lions have been wiped
out in the north; the last Numidian male was shot as a trophy in the
1930s.) Lions do not live in heavy forests and jungles and they do
not inhabit desert areas due to a scarcity of game.
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| DIET: |
| Lions
feed on a variety of large and medium-size prey. They prefer wildebeast
(or gnu) to all others when the annual migration brings the vast
herds through the pride's range. Otherwise they eat buffalo, zebra,
antelope, giraffe, and warthogs. They also steal kills and carrion
from other predators
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| LIFE
CYCLE/SOCIAL STRUCTURE: |
Lions
are the only cats that live in large family groups. Each pride differs
in size and formation, but a typical pride consists of two males and
seven females and a variable number of cubs. Females are usually sisters
and/or cousins that have grown up together. When the pride hunts as
a group they employ an ambush that forces large prey into the waiting
paws of the males. Females have the speed but lack the body weight
to knock down large "family size" prey such as the wildebeast.
Despite their tremendous power and adaptive efficiency, lions are
more likely to fail than succeed in their attempts to kill.
Subadult males are driven out at 2-1/2 to 3 years of age and may go
in a group with other males. Females mature in about two years, males
a few years later. All big cats are induced ovulators, i.e. release
of the ovum is brought about by the act of mating, which explains
the spitting, hitting, and roaring contest during courtship. The period
of gestation for the lioness is between 105 and 118 days and usually
three or four cubs will be born. Only one in five will survive the
first year. When game is scarce the dominance hierarchy based on size
and age quickly becomes apparent. The youngest die first.
Life
span in the wild is 15-18 years, in captivity 25-30 years.
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| SPECIAL
ADAPTATIONS: |
| Backward-curved
horny papillae cover the upper surface of the tongue; these are
useful both in holding onto meat and removing parasites during grooming.
The roar of a lion can be heard up to five miles away and can be
most intimidating up close. Territorial roaring is usually heard
an hour after sunset. When separated they roar to let each other
know where they are; females often call their cubs by roaring. The
mature male's mane not only makes him appear larger but protects
his throat from his mortal enemies-other marauding lions and the
hyenas after his cubs or kill.
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| INTERPRETIVE
INFORMATION: |
| A
lion is a digitigrade, or toe walker; that is his heel doesn't touch
the ground. His loud roar is made possible by the cartilage in his
throat having ossified into bone (referred to as the Hyoid structure).
This is true of all the big cat or "roaring" species.
The smaller cats with the softer throat structure can only meow.
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| STATUS
IN WILD: |
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As
a result of widespread persecution, cats in the wild have become
one of the most threataened major groups of land animals. Nevertheless,
the African lion numbered perhaps 200,000 individuals in 1991. They
are generally protected even through some 150 humans have been mauled
in the Gir National Park alone. Conversely in the Skeleton Coast
Park in West Africa's Namibia the lions are all gone. Some were
killed outside park boundaries by livestock herdsmen; others were
forced to leave by drought.
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| Special
thanks to the Oakland Zoo website where most of this data was obtained.
Please visit them at http://www.oaklandzoo.org |
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