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Wild Kratts: The Deadliest Animals In Africa

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Wild Kratts: The Deadliest Animals In Africa

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Wild Kratts - The Most Deadly Animals in Africa

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Lion Pride-Wild Kratt Read Aloud/PBS Kids

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Lion Pride-Wild Kratt Read Aloud/PBS Kids

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Lion Pride! | Wild Kratts Read Along! | PBS KIDS

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African Lions: Nat Geo Kids/Amazing Animals 

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African Lions: Nat Geo Kids/Amazing Animals 

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Lions live in groups called prides. There can be from from 3 to 30 lions in a pride. A pride contains many females and their young, and a few males. The lionesses rule the pride, working together to hunt and raise the cubs. But the adult males play an important role as well.

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If you ever get lost in the jungle, there are a few animals you'd better watch out for. What are we talking about? Big cats, of course! And, no, we don't mean fat, furry felines named Fluffy. We mean the really big cats.

The group of animals called big cats four : tigers, lions, leopards, and jaguars. The term big cat is not a scientific term. Instead, it's an term used to distinguish the larger of cats from the smaller ones.

Sometimes the term "big cats" a few other . For example, some people cougars, cheetahs, snow leopards, and clouded leopards. Tigers are the largest of the big cat , and the biggest cat of all is the Amur (Siberian) tiger. These animals can weigh over 750 pounds and grow longer than 10 feet!

However, there is a new "super lion" recently found in Africa. Unlike most cats, the super lion likes swimming, has stronger muscles, and is 15% larger than typical lions.

North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe are home to big cats. Despite differences in size, the various big cats are very similar in their body structure and how they behave. The one to this rule is the cheetah, which differs from any of the other big or small cats.

Big cats are carnivores. This means they eat other animals.

They're also the only cats that can roar. Their roar comes from a special larynx with cartilage walls that vibrate and produce sound when air passes through it from the lungs. Lions have the longest larynx, which means they can roar the loudest. Cheetahs and snow leopards can't roar, despite having similar throat structures. For this reason, some people exclude them from the list of big cats.

Big cats may be known for being ferocious, but they have more to fear from us than we do from them. You can find all the big cats on the endangered list, mainly from habitat destruction and . Today, many countries have established conservation areas to protect the rest of the big cat populations.

Think you know a lot about big cats? Here are some interesting facts you may not know:

An adult lion's roar is very loud! It can be heard up to five miles away.

Snow leopards can leap up to seven times their own body length in a single jump.

The tiger's stripes are like a fingerprint. No two tigers have the same pattern.

The leopard is the strongest climber of the big cats. It can carry prey twice its weight up a tree.

The jaguar takes its name from a Native American word that means "he who kills with one leap."

Lions in the wild usually live 12 to 16 years. In captivity, they can live up to 25 years.

Tigers don't avoid water like many cats and are excellent swimmers.

Lions are the only big cats that live in groups, which are called prides.

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If you ever get lost in the jungle, there are a few animals you'd better watch out for. What are we talking about? Big cats, of course! And, no, we don't mean fat, furry felines named Fluffy. We mean the really big cats. The group of animals called big cats four : tigers, lions, leopards, and jaguars.

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They're big. They're . They're , but they can also be a little scary. That's right-today, we're learning all about the kings of the jungle. The mighty lions!

However, some of our Wonder Friends have been asking . . . are lions really the kings of the jungle? According to experts, the answer is technically no. In fact, lions don't even live in the jungle. Instead, you'll find them in desert .

Most lions live in Africa today. The nations of Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Tanzania are all home to lions. These giant cats can also be found in the Central African Republic and South Sudan. A small population also inhabits India.

Even if lions did live in the jungle, those who study these animals say it would be more accurate to call them the QUEENS of the jungle. Why? Well, in a pride of lions, it's often the female cats who run the show.

The fact that lions live in groups sets them apart from other big cats. They're much more than their feline cousins. Prides may in size from three to 40 animals. However, the number is about 13 adult lions living together.

Typically, the pride mostly consists of female lions. In fact, smaller groups may include only one adult male lion. The male cats' main job in the pride is to protect its . A lion's roar can travel as far as three miles (five kilometers), warning other prides and individual lions to keep their distance.

Despite their roars, male lions are not the hunters in a pride. Instead, the female cats take on most of the responsibility for feeding the group. Most often, they hunt together at night to provide food for the pride, including the cubs and male lions.

In many cases, the female lions in a pride are all related. They share the responsibilities of raising their young, often even giving birth around the same time. They also defend their cubs against lions attacking their pride. Most female lions will live with the same group their entire lives. However, some leave to form their own prides elsewhere.

On the other hand, nearly all male lions leave the pride when they are around three years old. Most then live alone for some time-up to two years. Then, they enter a new pride as adults to help protect its and produce cubs.

Today, lions are considered a vulnerable species. Only around 20,000 of them live in the wild. However, efforts to protect these big cats have led to a recent increase in the population.

Have you ever seen a pride of lions in a zoo or nature reserve? If so, you know they can be fun to watch-from a distance, of course!

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Are Lions Really the Kings of the Jungle?

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They're big. They're . They're , but they can also be a little scary. That's right-today, we're learning all about the kings of the jungle. The mighty lions! However, some of our Wonder Friends have been asking . . . are lions really the kings of the jungle?

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The lion is the second largest member of the cat family after the tiger. Lions live in parts of Africa and India. Their loud roar is among the most terrifying sounds of the...

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If you love Disney's The Lion King, you probably love lions, too! These big really do seem like royalty. They are powerful, graceful, and have a roar that can be heard from up to 5 miles (8 kilometers) away! There are lots of cool facts about lions, some of them you may already know, but keep reading to find out more!
Quick Facts About Lions

Lions are the only known type of cat that live in groups, which are called prides. A pride has many females, their cubs and just a few males.

The females do most of the hunting. They work together to bring down prey. This keeps them safer than if they hunted alone.

Males have an important job too. They patrol their territory and protect the young cubs. They also make sure cubs get enough food.

Male lions have manes. It has been thought that maybe manes protect them during fights with other lions. The color and size of a lion's mane can also be important clues about how healthy that lion might be.

Lions are carnivorous, meaning they survive by eating other animals. They eat almost anything including , buffalo, , crocodiles, baby , lizards and bugs. They have also been known to sometimes steal food from other big cats.

Lions spend a lot of time napping - males will sleep up to 20 hours each day while females sleep up to 18!

The lion is a muscular, deep-chested large cat with a rounded head, a reduced neck, round ears and fur that differs in color from light buff to silvery grey, yellowish red and dark brown.

A lion's mane is one of its most recognizable features, but only male lions grow manes. When male lions reach a year old, their mane starts growing. The color of the mane varies and darkens with age.

Some research shows that its size and color are influenced by environmental factors, such as average ambient temperature, and the presence of parasites such as ticks and fleas.

Lions are the second largest of all the big cats in the world, right after . Most males weigh around 400 pounds (180 kilograms), while females weigh around 290 pounds (130 kilograms). The biggest lion ever recorded weighed over 800 pounds!

The average 8-year-old human weighs about 55 pounds, so it would take about 7 eight-year-olds to weigh the same as 1 male lion or 5 eight-year-olds to equal a female lion. That's pretty heavy!

Lions are carnivores, which means they eat meat and hunt other animals for food. Males need to eat about 15.4 pounds of meat each day, which is much more than the 11 pounds of meat a female lion needs each day.

Lions generally hunt from dusk until dawn and spend the day resting. In nature, lions live in southern and eastern regions of Africa where it tends to be very hot during the day.

Lions will preserve their energy and try to stay cool during the hot days and they generally hunt while the sun is down and temperatures are cooler.

Most lions nowadays live in special reserves in . These are places set aside for them where they cannot be hunted or hurt. It is estimated that about 20,000 lions live in Africa, while there are less than 300 Asian lions in the Gir forest of and another 200 live in zoos around the world. Lions are an endangered species.

Just 100 years ago, there were more than 200,000 lions in Africa, but many have been killed by hunters, poachers, and ranchers. Lions live up to 16 years in the wild, but the oldest lion ever recorded lived to be 29 years old.

Lions are pretty unique compared to other large cat species like tigers, leopards, and cheetahs. First, lions live in groups called prides. Most other cats are solitary animals, meaning they prefer to live and hunt alone.

A lion pride has up to 4 adult males, several adult females, and their cubs. The males are bigger and stronger, so their role in the group is to protect the pride's territory and defend the cubs from any threats. T

he adult females in the group are responsible for hunting. These ladies all work together to bring down bigger animals like buffalo so they can feed the whole group from one hunt.

They are extremely fast runners and can reach speeds of 50 mph (80 km/h), but they can't run this fast for very long.

Generally, lions eat their prey at the location of the hunt but sometimes they pull large prey under cover to protect it from scavengers like vultures, hyenas, and other large cats. When food is scarce, cubs suffer the most while all other pride members eat their fill, including the crippled and elderly lions that can live on the leftovers.

Food can be hard to come by during certain seasons, so lions may go a few days without eating anything, but once the females have a successful hunt, the whole pride with gorge themselves. Lions can eat up to 30 kilograms (66 pounds) in one session and overfill their bellies.

The lions may even rest for a few hours before continuing to eat if they are unable to consume all of their prey in one sitting. Lions will also steal the kills of cheetahs and if it is easier than hunting their own food. Sometimes lions will kill leopard and cheetah cubs and even adults when they get the chance.

Lions tend to dominate cheetahs and leopards, which is another reason they are considered kings and queens of the jungle.

In human culture, the lion is one of the most widely recognized animal symbols. Lions are widely depicted in paintings, sculptures, in contemporary films and literature and even on national flags. These majestic cats are a symbol of strength and nobility in cultures across Europe, Asia and Africa.

They are depicted as the "king of the jungle" or "king of beasts," and are a popular symbol for royalty, stateliness and sporting teams. In the region of sub-Saharan Africa, lions are a common character in the stories, proverbs and dances practiced by people, but they are rarely featured in visual arts.

The word for lion is Swahili, a language spoken in some regions of Africa, is "simba," (just like in the movie The Lion King) which also means "aggressive," "king," and "strong."

The lion continues to appear in modern literature, such as Aslan from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. What other movies, books, or stories do you know that feature lions as primary characters?

Lion Vocabulary

Learn More All About Lions

Do you want to learn even more about the kings and queens of the jungle? Watch this cool 49 minute documentary video about the lives of wild lions in Africa:

Lion Q&A

Answer 1: Lions can run very fast for brief periods. A lion can run the length of a football field in six seconds! A lion can run up to 50 mph but only for a very short distance.

Question 2: How do lions take care of their babies?

Answer 2: Male lions watch the cubs while mothers hunt. All the mothers care for and feed babies - even those that aren't their own.

Answer 3: Lions will eat wild when water is scarce in order to get moisture and avoid dehydration.

Question 4: Do Lions live in groups or are they solitary animals?

Answer 4: Lions live together and are very social. A family of Lions is called a pride. A pride usually has no more than 4 dominant males, many females, and babies.

Question 5: What are baby Lions called?

Answer 5: Baby Lions are called cubs, lionet or whelp.

Answer 6: Lions love meat and have to have it to survive. In their habitat lions hunt and eat the following - Zebra, Buffalo and even Elephants. A lion will eat almost anything they feel they can overpower, so nothing is too big for a lion to attack.

They don't always succeed with the likes of Elephants and Rhinos but they keep on trying. It goes without saying Lions will eat almost anything that contains meat.

Question 7: Have Lions got any predators?

Answer 7: Yes, even though lions are like royalty of the animal kingdom, they do have one predator: humans. Lion hunting, or trophy hunting as it is known, is still an ongoing problem facing the conservation of this large cat.

The majority of trophy hunting is licensed and takes place in countries like Zimbabwe and Namibia. There are less than 25,000 wild lions roaming the African continent, which is a drastic decline compared to the more than 1.2 million that lived in the 1880s.

Enjoyed the Easy Science for Kids Website all about Lions info? Take the FREE & fun all about Lions quiz and download FREE Lions worksheet for kids. For lengthy info click here.

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If you love Disney's The Lion King , you probably love lions, too! These big really do seem like royalty. They are powerful, graceful, and have a roar that can be heard from up to 5 miles (8 kilometers) away!

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* Lion * | Animals for Kids |  All About Lions for Children

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Lion prides can be as small as 3 or as big as 40 animals. In a pride, lions hunt prey, raise cubs, and defend their territory together. In prides the females do most of the hunting and cub rearing. Usually all the lionesses in the pride are related-mothers, daughters, grandmothers, and sisters.

Many of the females in the pride give birth at about the same time. A cub may nurse from other females as well as its mother. Each pride generally will have no more than two adult males.

While the females usually live with the pride for life, the males often stay for only two to four years. After that they go off on their own or are evicted by other males who take over the pride. When a new male becomes part of the pride it is not unusual for him to kill all the cubs, ensuring that all future cubs will have his genes. The main job of males in the pride is defending the pride's territory. A male's loud roar, usually heard after sunset, can carry for as far as five miles (eight kilometers). The roar warns off intruders and helps round up stray members of the pride.

Hunting generally is done in the dark by the lionesses. They often hunt in groups of two or three, using teamwork to stalk, surround, and kill their prey. Lionesses aren't the most successful of hunters, because they usually score only one kill out of several tries. After the kill the males usually eat first, lionesses next-and the cubs get what's left. Males and females fiercely defend against any outside lions that attempt to join their pride.

Because of their size, strength, and predatory skills, lions are considered one of the "big cats." Tigers, cheetahs, leopards, jaguars, and cougars are also part of this grouping.

Take the big cat quiz to see how much you know about these fierce felines. Then, just for fun, see which wild cat you're most like with our personality quiz.

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For all of their roaring, growling, and ferociousness, lions are family animals and truly social in their own communities. They usually live in groups of 15 or more animals called prides. Prides can be as small as 3 or as big as 40 animals.