It was made the National Emblem of India in 1950. [116] They tend to squabble over kills, particularly the males. "The late miocene radiation of modern Felidae: A genetic assessment", "Phylogeny and evolution of cats (Felidae)". [82], Lions spend much of their time resting; they are inactive for about 20 hours per day. It is absent from rainforest and rarely enters closed forest. [47] Lions occur in savannah grasslands with scattered acacia trees, which serve as shade.

Hybridisation between lion and snow leopard (P. uncia) ancestors possibly continued until about 2.1 million years ago. [110] Some evidence suggests, however, that males are just as successful as females; they are typically solo hunters who ambush prey in small bushland. The head and neck are the most common parts of the body licked; this behaviour may have arisen out of utility because lions cannot lick these areas themselves. Lions kill either by strangling their prey or by enclosing its mouth and nostrils to suffocate it.

[256] The lion is featured in several of Aesop's fables, notably The Lion and the Mouse. They take advantage of factors that reduce visibility; many kills take place near some form of cover or at night. The Congo lion (Panthera leo azandica), also known as the central African lion, is a lion subspecies distributed along the plains of the African continent, especially in Uganda and the Republic of the Congo.. The types of extinct lion species include: Panthera leo melanochaitus, referred to more commonly as the Black lion or cape lion, is a subspecies that was declared extinct in 1860. They communicate using vocalizations, head rubbing, licking, facial expressions, chemical marking, and visual marking. [213] In the late 20th century, larger, more natural enclosures and the use of wire mesh or laminated glass instead of lowered dens allowed visitors to come closer than ever to the animals; some attractions such as the Cat Forest/Lion Overlook of Oklahoma City Zoological Park placed the den on ground level, higher than visitors. Pumbaa wins and Congo promises to return. Now that you know how many types of lions there are in the world, keep reading to find out more about each. [190][191][192] The Asiatic Lion Census conducted in 2017 recorded about 650 individuals. [15] By 2015, the population had grown to 523 individuals inhabiting an area of 7,000 km2 (2,700 sq mi) in Saurashtra. [238] The founder of the Waalo kingdom is said to have been raised by lions and returned to his people part-lion to unite them using the knowledge he learned from the lions. Breeding programs need to note origins of the participating animals to avoid cross-breeding different subspecies and thus reducing their conservation value. [237] In Swahili language, the lion is known as simba which also means "aggressive", "king" and "strong".

Additionally, it is important to know that all surviving lion species are in fact in danger of extinction. [111], Lions are not particularly known for their stamina; for instance, a lioness' heart comprises only 0.57% of her body weight and a male's is about 0.45% of his body weight, whereas a hyena's heart comprises almost 1% of its body weight.