Thursday, March 01, 2007

Thursday Thirteen: Edishun 23

Thirteen Fakts Abowt Lions

Since they say March goze in like a lion, I thot I'd run thru a few fasinayting lion fakts for my Thursday Thirteen:
  1. The hunting grounds for a pride of lions can range from 8 to 150 square miles.
  2. A male lion weighs from 330 to 420 pounds. The largest lion on record was almost 11 feet long and weighed nearly 700 pounds.
  3. A lion's average life span is 13 years but a lion named "Nero" once lived to the ripe old age of 29 in a West German zoo.
  4. Catnip can affect lions and tigers as well as house cats.
  5. There are only one fourth the number of lions in Africa as there were just 40 years ago.
  6. A lion's eyesight is five times better than a human's, and it can hear prey that is more then a mile away.
  7. A male lion eats first, even though the females actually catch the prey.
  8. A captive lion eats about 15 pounds of meat each day, but a wild lion usually eats only twice a week.
  9. Lions are the most social of all the cats, living in groups called "prides." There can be up to 40 members in a pride with over half of them being cubs and young adults.
  10. Lions hunt by ambush. Their main prey includes medium to large-sized mammals such as antelope, buffalo, zebra, giraffe, warthog and vishus deer, but they will also scavenge for food.
  11. African lions are listed as Vulnerable by the 2000 IUCN red list. The Asiatic lion (P.l.persica) is classed as Critically Endangered. Threats include hunting, loss of habitat and human encroachment.
  12. One of the few animals that will attack lions are hyenas, which will kill an injured lion, or if food is scarce, will occasionally attack a healthy one.
  13. "Singapore" means "City of Lions".

Yer Bonus Faktoid: Actor Sylvester Stallone once had a job as a lion cage cleaner.

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