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Lion
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| Setswana name | Tau |
| Scientific name | Panthera leo |
| Male | total length 2,5-3,3m; tail 1,0m; shoulder height 1,2m; mass 150-225kg |
| Female | total length 2,3-2,7m; tail 1,0m; shoulder height 1,0m; mass 110-152kg |
| Identification pointers | Large size; usually uniform tawny colour; males with long mane; dark-tipped tail. Cannot be confused with any species. |
Description: Largest of the African cats. Males and females are easy to tell apart. Body ranges from reddish-grey to pale tawny with lighter underparts. Although faint spots are present on the sides of cubs, these are usually lost by adulthood. Tail is shorthaired and same colour as the rest of the body, but has a dark tip. Only the adult male carries a mane of long hair, extending from the sides of the face on to the neck, shoulders and chest. Mane colour ranges from pale tawny to black.
Habitat: The lion has a very wide habitat tolerance, from desert fringe to woodland or open savanna, but is absent from equatorial forest. It is widely distributed throughout, except in the settled parts of the eastern Botswana.
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Behaviour: It is most sociable member of the cat's family, living in prides of 3-30 individuals. Pride size varies according to the area and prey availability. In Botswana prides usually 6 or fewer individuals, whereas average pride size in Kruger National Park is about 12. Prides normally consist of 1 to 4 adult males, several adult females (one of which is dominant) and a number of subadults and cubs. Both the males and females defend a pride area or territory against strange lions but some prides and solitary males are nomadic.
Territories are marked by urine, dropping and by earth scratching. The might roars of the lion is audible over kilometres and also serves to indicate that an area is occupied. Most of their activities takes place at night and during the cooler daylight hours. The females undertake most of the hunting, and despite the fact that the males play little part in most kills they feed before the females. Cubs compete for what remains once the adults have finished their meal.
Food: Although the lion is mainly a hunter of medium to large-sized mammals, particularly ungulates, it will take anything from mice to young elephants as well as a wide range of non-mammalian prey. It is also scavenges and often chases other predators from their kills.
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Reproduction: No fixed breeding season; 1-4, (occasionally 6) cubs each weighing about 1,5kg are born after gestation period of 110 days. Lioness gives birth under cover, only returning to the pride when cubs are 4-8 weeks old. However, she will only rejoin with the pride if there are no cubs older than 3months already present. As a lioness allows any pride cub to suckle, the presence of older cubs would prevent younger cubs from obtaining milk. Cubs may remain with the mother for two years or longer.
General: Unless provoked, lions rarely attack humans but it is useful to know the warning signs: an angry lion will drop into a crouch, flatten its ears and give vent to growls, meanwhile flicking the tail-tip rapidly from side to side. Just prior to a charge the tail is usually jerked up and down.
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