[ad_1]
Lion babies! They are born cute and cuddly and turn into real predators that rule the savannahs. Let’s look at five facts about lion cubs and more important immerse yourself in five lion pictures when they are the cutest and most cuddly.
1.) Lions are three to four months pregnant and can have two to six cubs in a litter!
The gestation period in lions coincides with the gestation period of other large cats. While the gestation period for lions is about 110 days, it is slightly shorter in other large cats. For example, the average gestation period for mountain lions is about 92 days, while cheetahs rarely exceed 95 days. Lions have about the same gestation period as tigers.
However, a lion’s gestation period (110 days) is less than 40% of the average human gestation (280 days).
2.) There is a place in Africa where lions live alone (instead of prides), and lion cubs must learn to hunt antelope by 3 months of age!
Lions hunt in groups called prides, right? Good, normally this is right. But there is one place on Earth where lions hunt alone and lion cubs must become independent at a very young age!
In Kenya’s Samburu National Park, desert conditions make prey much rarer. Lions have adapted to their habitat by living alone, not in prides. In this environment, lions cannot remain babies for long! Lion cubs in Samura can shoot down small antelopes by three months!
3. The President of the United States had two lion cubs as pets!
Believe it or not, the President of the United States once had a pet that was not a cat or dog. Instead, he had two lion cubs!
Calvin Coolidge was President of the United States from 1923 to 1929. While the president, the mayor of the South African city of Johannesburg, presented Coolidge with a pair of twin lions. You might think that a lion’s name like “Simba” or “Scar” would suit a pet lion, but Coolidge went as opposed to direction.
He named his twin lions “Tax Cuts” and “Budget Bureau”. Let me assure you Coolidge it wasn’t much fun at parties. In addition to twin lions, Coolidge also kept a White House raccoon, a brown bear named Bruno, a wallaby that was transported to the National Zoo, a duker (a small antelope from Africa), and thirteen Peking ducks.
Let’s just say that 100 years ago there were different animals in the White House!
4. It’s hard to be a lion cub!
If you just want to keep looking at adorable pictures of lion cubs, skip this fact. But if you keep reading, consider yourself forewarned!
80% of all lion cubs die before they reach the age of two. At this age, they become skilled enough hunters to become self-sufficient. Why is it so hard to be a lion cub?
First, food competition hard. Another factor is that when the male lion becomes the alpha of the pride, he kills alien lion cubs at the age of two years and younger. In general, in male lions, it is the roughest. Only 1 in 8 (12%) will reach adulthood.
5. Lion cubs are born with spots and blue eyes, but they lose both when they become adults.
Baby lions are very different from older lions. First, their eyes are blue at birth, but as they age, their eye color will turn brown.
Lion cubs also have rosettes or leopard-like spots. However, once the lion reaches adulthood, the spots will disappear, leaving a more uniform coat. While lion cubs weigh just 3 pounds on average and grow to over 250 pounds (females are closer to 280, and males reach over 400 pounds), their appearance changes much more than their height.
[ad_2]
Source link