Lion (Panthera leo): Facts, Diet, Habitat and Lifespan

What does a lion look like?

Lions have a plain, tawny coat that ranges from pale buff to silvery gray, yellowish red or dark brown, with lighter underparts. The body is broad-chested and powerful, the head short and rounded, and the ears round. Every lion, male or female, has a dark tuft of hair at the tip of its tail, a feature no other cat shares.

The most famous feature is the male’s mane, a ruff of long hair that covers the head, neck, shoulders and chest. It starts to grow in adolescence as testosterone rises and reaches full size at about four years old. Manes vary from blond to almost black, and some males, for example in Kenya’s Tsavo region and parts of West Africa, have very short manes or none at all. Our article on why male lions have manes explains what the mane signals.

Cubs are born with dark spots on a gray-brown coat. The spots fade as they grow, although faint spots often remain on the legs and belly of young adults. White lions, seen around South Africa’s Kruger and Timbavati areas, are not albinos: they carry a rare recessive gene variant that lightens the coat but leaves the eyes and skin normally colored.

How big is a lion?

The lion is the second-largest cat after the tiger. Males are clearly bigger than females, and size varies by region: lions in Southern Africa tend to be heaviest, while Asiatic lions in India are a little smaller.

Lions are built for strength and short bursts rather than endurance. They usually sprint at about 50–60 km/h (31–37 mph) and must get close to prey before charging, because they tire quickly. For a full comparison with the larger striped cat, see lion vs tiger.

Where do lions live?

Wild lions survive in scattered populations across sub-Saharan Africa and in a single region of western India. In Africa, most live in East and Southern Africa, in countries such as Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. West and Central Africa hold only small, isolated groups; the West African population was estimated at about 400 animals in 2015.

Lions prefer open country: grassy plains, savanna, scrub along rivers and open woodland. They rarely enter closed rainforest, but they cope with semi-desert in the Kalahari and Namib, and have been recorded at about 3,600 m (11,800 ft) on Mount Elgon. Water, cover for stalking and plenty of large grazing animals are the key needs.

The Asiatic lion lives only in and around Gir National Park in Gujarat, India, in dry deciduous forest and thorny scrub. Thousands of years ago lions also lived in North Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus and even southeastern Europe, including ancient Greece, but they disappeared from all of these regions.

What do lions eat?

Lions are carnivores that hunt mainly medium-sized and large hoofed mammals. Blue wildebeest, plains zebras, African buffalo, antelopes such as gemsbok and impala, warthogs and sometimes giraffes make up most of their diet in Africa. In India, chital and sambar deer are the main wild prey, and livestock is taken outside protected areas.

Lionesses often hunt as a team, with some fanning out to the sides while others wait in the center, and many hunts happen at night or near cover. Males also hunt, often alone and in thick vegetation, and are especially good at tackling heavy prey such as buffalo. Lions also scavenge and regularly steal kills from spotted hyenas, cheetahs, leopards and wild dogs.

An adult lioness needs on average about 5 kg (11 lb) of meat a day and a male about 7 kg (15 lb), but lions eat irregularly: they can gorge on up to 30 kg (66 lb) at one meal and then go several days without food. Read more in What do lions eat?.

How do lions live in prides?

The lion is the most social wild cat. A pride is built around a core of related lionesses that usually spend their whole lives together, plus their cubs and one or more adult males. An average pride has around 15 members, though prides of up to 30 have been seen. Groups of males, often brothers or cousins, are called coalitions.

Males do not stay forever. Young males leave their birth pride at about two to three years old, wander as nomads and, if they are strong enough, take over a pride at four to five years old. When a new coalition takes over, it often kills young cubs fathered by the previous males, which brings the mothers back into breeding condition sooner.

Lions spend most of the day resting, often 16–20 hours, and are most active at dusk, at night and around dawn. They greet each other by rubbing heads and lick each other while resting, which helps hold the pride together.

Why do lions roar?

Lions roar mainly to announce who they are and that their territory is occupied, and to keep in contact with pride members who are spread out. Both males and females roar, most often at night, and a roar can be heard up to about 8 km (5 mi) away. A roaring bout usually starts with soft moans, builds to several full roars and ends with a series of grunts.

Besides roaring, lions growl, snarl, hiss, puff, hum and make purr-like sounds, while cubs meow and bleat. The full story is in Why do lions roar?.

Reproduction and life cycle

Lions breed at any time of year. After a pregnancy of about 110 days, the lioness gives birth to one to four cubs, usually two or three, in a hidden den in a thicket, reed bed or rocky shelter. The cubs are born blind, open their eyes after about a week and begin walking at around three weeks. The mother moves them to new dens several times a month to avoid predators.

At six to eight weeks old, the cubs join the pride. Lionesses that give birth around the same time often raise their cubs together in a group called a creche, and cubs may suckle from any nursing female. Cubs are weaned at six to seven months, begin to hunt near their first birthday and become effective hunters at around two years old. Most lionesses have their first litter by about four years of age.

Cub survival is low. Many cubs die from starvation when prey is scarce, are killed by incoming males or are taken by hyenas, leopards and other predators.

How long do lions live?

Wild lionesses commonly live 12–16 years, while males usually die younger, often by about 10–12, because of the fights involved in winning and keeping a pride. Most adult lions die violently, from fights with other lions, injuries from prey or conflict with people. In zoos, lions often live beyond 20 years; three siblings at the Honolulu Zoo reached 22 in 2007. More detail is in How long do lions live?.

Is the lion endangered?

The lion is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, a status it has held since 1996. African lion populations are estimated to have fallen by roughly 43% between the early 1990s and the mid-2010s, and lions have vanished from much of their former range. Estimates of the total wild population vary, but it is usually put at roughly 20,000–25,000 lions.

The main threats are loss and breakup of habitat, killing in retaliation for attacks on livestock, the loss of wild prey to the bushmeat trade, and poorly managed trophy hunting in some areas. Lions are now found mostly in protected areas, and where tourism brings money to parks and local communities, it helps pay for their protection.

India’s Asiatic lions are a conservation success story. From about 180 animals in 1974, the population grew to 674 by 2020 and 891 in a 2025 survey, now spreading well beyond Gir National Park. Living in one region, however, leaves them at risk from disease outbreaks and inbreeding.

Lions and people

Lions have been symbols of strength, courage and royalty for thousands of years, appearing in ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Indian art, on coats of arms and on national flags. The nickname “king of the jungle” is poetic rather than accurate, because lions avoid dense jungle.

Lions do not normally hunt people, but attacks do happen, mostly where wild prey is scarce and people and livestock live close to lions. The best-known case is the Tsavo lions of Kenya, two maneless males that killed railway workers in 1898. Today, safari tourism is one of the strongest reasons to protect lions, and visitors can see them safely from vehicles in parks such as the Serengeti, Maasai Mara, Kruger and Okavango Delta, always following park rules.