admin » 9am - Sep 1, 2010

South Africa's free-ranging lion population, an estimated 2,700 animals, lives mostly in and around Kruger National Park in the northeast corner of the country. The lion is a massive cat. Biggest of all the carnivores in Africa today. Coloured pale tawny to sandy brown. Cubs are faintly spotted, reminding of the kinship with the other large cats. Sometimes the adult animals retain traces of the spots, especially low on the body. The long tail is short-haired, with a distinctive black tuft at the tip. The adult males have manes varying in colour from tawny to black, and in size from a slight ruff around the neck, shoulders and chest and extending as a fringe below the belly. The head is large in comparison to the body with a strong, heavy muzzle, the pattern of spots at the roots of the whisker is unique to each individual. Head and body length from 2.6 metres to 3.3 metres. Tail 30 to 100 centimetres. Shoulder height with males reaches up to 1.2 metres, at females up to 0.9 metres. Weight of males usually up to 190 kilograms, heaviest specimen measured weighing 260 kilograms, 225 kilograms highest ever measured in Kruger National Park. Weight of females usually up to 135 kilograms. Heaviest female measured so far 152 kilograms.