Discover The Lifespan Of Lion In Your Tanzania Safari Tours

Hello guys!

We are here to discuss the lifespan from the birth to the death of Lion, the king and most daring wildlife creature of the jungle.

With a black and tan colour mane around the face, the lion has the strong teeth and jaws to hunt the prey. The Lion is the only predator who has a social life and also famous for its roar.

You have to go to the forest or Serengeti National Park during your Tanzania Safari with other national parks to experience the true nature of a lion. In the captivity or in the zoo, the lions don’t show their true colours.

In your upcoming Tanzania Safari Tours, make sure to meet with the lion family or the young cubs.

You have seen “Alex”, the famous lion character in the Madagascar movie. In the movie, you can see the popularity of Alex, for its roar. Held in captivity when he was a cub, Alex has grown up and became a favourite of the people of New York.

Let us discuss the time behind the screen in which Alex has grown up!

The Birth Of A Cub

Age for mating of female lion is earlier than the male lion age. After a gestation period of 3 to 4 months or 110 days, lioness gives birth to 1 to 4 cubs. Weighing about 1.5 kilograms, the baby cub opens eye within 3 to 11 days.

The lioness hides the cubs in some lonely bushes until their eyes are full opened. For the nourishment, the lioness feeds the cubs with her milk for 2 months after giving the birth. The new born cubs also have no teeth like humans.

There are tawny black spots on the baby cubs and the spots disappear as the lion grows. You will fall in love with the cute young cubs after watching them during your Tanzania Safari.

New Kids On The Block

During the period of gestation, the lioness leaves the pride before giving the birth. Lioness searches for a den in the bushes or a hidden cave, to give a safe birth to the cubs.

The hidden shelter becomes their home until they are 3 to 4 months old to fight with its elder brothers and sisters, for the mother’s milk. If there are no older cubs in the pride, the mother allows the cubs to follow the pride. Around two to three months, the cubs start to eat meat with their baby teeth.

As their eyes are totally closed and totally defenceless, they get their mother’s full attention and care until they are 3 months old. The attacks from large birds, male lions, and snakes are the major threats for them.

Lioness controls her aggressiveness and hunting attitude, when she has cubs. In a pride, the lioness gives the same time to each cub. The lioness also takes full care and feeds the milk to the orphan cubs or cubs of other lioness. You will love to watch the cubs when playing with their mother during your Tanzania Tours And Safari.

Introduced To Pride

The lioness keeps the cub hidden until they are old enough to defend themselves which is around after 3 months. Other reason behind the lioness hides the cubs from the pride is, the new born cubs take 3 to 11 days to open their eyes. The infant grows their immune power and physical strength by mother’s milk in between 2 to 3 months. After knowing the facts, you can say that “There Is No Comparison With The Mother’s Love”

Lioness doesn’t introduce the cubs to the pride for the fear of leadership change during the time of growth of newly born cubs. In this case, male lion the new leader of the pride often kills the babies to establish his leadership for a long time. Approximately, the 80% of the young cubs are killed before attaining age of 2 years.

To keep safe from the predators like cheetah, leopard, and wild dogs, the lioness hides her cubs in dens or in secret caves.

The lionesses of the pride take care of the new cubs and teach them how to hunt. Within six to seven months, the cubs stop to drink the milk.

After introducing the pride, the lioness gives equal times to each cub. During that time, the lioness hunts the prey to feed the cubs. The cubs are stays dependent on the lionesses of the pride up to 6 months.

Female Learned To Hunt

In the pride, though the lions protect the pride and cubs, the cubs get most of the hunting techniques and tactics from the lioness. After introducing the cubs, the lionesses of the pride teaches the cubs the entire processes and tricks whereas, the lion teaches the cubs how to defend themselves. As lionesses often hunts to feed the pride, the cubs with them learned the entire process of hunting.

In your Tanzania Travel Trips, you will get a closer view of the lioness hunting the prey with her kids.

Able To Produce Young

The age of lion is not less than 5 years and the age of lioness are not less than 3 years for the mating. Though the lions have no breeding seasons, rate of birth is highest in between March to July in Serengeti National Park. But the birth time varies for different national for Weather & Climate patterns and prey availability

Fully Grown

In between the 9^th and 12^th month, there is an eruption of permanent or elder teeth and the cub starts to go for the hunt. In between 12 to 24 month, the cubs start to kill their prey.

After 24 months, the younger lions become sexually mature. The young lions at the age between 2 to 3 years, forced to leave the pride. But in case of young lioness, they may or may not live in the pride.

At the age of 3 to 4 years, the both lion and lioness fully grown and the females give birth to the cub. In between 4 to 5 years, the male lion take over other pride or starts their own. At the age of 7, the mane of lion reaches full extent as the body weight.

At the age of 10 years, the male lions are forced to leave or ousted from the pride. So they may die because of the lack of food, but can live if they are the part of a strong coalition.

At the age of 11 years, female reproduction starts to reduce and they may die in between the age of 15 to 18 years.

Life Expectancy

The life expectancy of the lions is between 15 to 18 years. But the male lion often died earlier after the age of 11 years for the fights for dominance.

The lion in captivity can live up to 30 years.

Though the lion is the king of the jungle, life is not easy for them. There is a nature which says, “You Will Get Most Of Strength And Powers As Well As High Risks And Responsibilities”. The credit goes to the queen, the lioness, who takes full care and attention to raise the young cubs.

In your Tanzania Safari Tours, you will meet the younger cubs and can watch them with their mother and other pride members. To watch the amazing family of lion, book with wapoafricasafaris.com.

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