August 16, 2024 • 17 mins
World Lion Day was August 10, so we're sharing some of our favorite lion facts! In this episode, hosts Rick and Marco go back and forth with some fascinating details about this big, carnivorous cat. Why are lions called the “kings of the jungle”? Are they the only big cats that live in prides? Tune in to find out more about lions and current conservation efforts.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, I'm rich Schwartz. What is the world?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Marco Wentz.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of
wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts.
This podcast is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studio and
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and international nonprofit conservation organization
which oversees the San Diego Zoo and Safari bark.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Thick.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Last Saturday, August tenth was Worldline Day, and it's a
day where around the world we raise awareness of the
many conservation efforts going on for lions and of course
lion habitat.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
That's right, Marco.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
And before we jump too far into this episode about lions,
I want to remind any listeners who did not hear
the episode we did last year where we interviewed the
founder and director of a wast of Lions to go
back and listen to that episode, Season two, Episode two
with the title Maiinless and Prideless Kenya's Solitary Lions. It
is a very specific look into the lions in and
(01:00):
around the Samburu National Preserve and Kenya, and it's honestly fascinating.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Oh yeah, that was.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Such a good episode.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I mean they were literally recording in their tent, right,
that was awesome. And those particular lines, I mean they
are so unique in their behavior, and I mean the
fact that the males don't even have mains.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, in this episode, though, we're going to zoom out
out as far as we can to be less specific
about a region and discuss some amazing wildlife lion facts.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
And for you, our listeners, since we don't have a
guest for this particular episode, we thought it'd be kind
of fun for Rick and I to swap out some
of our favorite lion facts and conservation information.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
All right, Marco, I will let you start it off.
Hit us with one of your favorite lion facts.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Now, you know, friend, I'm a huge fan of lines.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
I mean, they're not a bird, but yes, they're not
a bird, but I will say they're a carnivore, and
of all the wildlife out there, it's always been a
fan of carnivores, right, And being from a this is
kind of signo being from a Mexican family, the nuances.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Of being Machi smoll you know, the dominant man.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
You know, a lot of times I remember having conversations
and my father in particular about a lion and what
it represents and strength and power, which.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I totally get.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
But I've always loved to remind them too that you know,
it's not really the male lion who really is the
core of the social structure of this particular species, right,
And his mind was just blown. It's the females, right,
It's all about the females. Yes, the male line has
a very important role, protecting the prime, keeping the territory
nice and safe, sometimes even helping bring down much larger prey.
(02:28):
But in reality, you know, this pride, this social group,
it's all tied in with females, sisters, granddaughters, all working
together to help keeping this vital pride, this family structure
in play.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I just think that's incredible.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I think, yeah, yeah, no, I love it. I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And to roll into that a little further, I think
what's fascinating is of all the cat species.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And I have loved cats my life.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I've had oh yeah, I've had cats in my life
ever since I was a kid.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I've worked with cat species.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
I've worked with tigers, I've worked with small cats like
oslots and servals, I've worked with jaguars and leopards, and
what's fascinating is lions are the only one. Like you said,
they live in a pride or a social group. Now,
a pride can have anywhere from three to thirty lions
made up of the lionesses like you said, the mothers,
the sisters, cousins, granddaughters, and their cubs, along with a
(03:14):
few unrelated males. And to go further into that, the
lion pride has a very close bond. They rarely will
ever accept an outsider into the pride. However, unrelated males
usually will only stay in the pride for a few years,
but the older lionesses will stay for life. So again
kind of going back to what you're saying with that
not officially a matriarchal setup, but that core group there.
(03:36):
And as we learned during the episode that you mentioned
from last year in dry areas with less food where
we were talking about the lions in the Samburu area
of Kenya, the prides are smaller and sometimes lions can
even end up being solitary, but in habitats with more
food and water, prides can have easily four to eight
adult lionesses with all their offspring, even one or two
adult males, bringing the numbers anywhere from ten to thirty
(03:56):
in that group.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Wow, can even have like ten thirty.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Different right exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
But then what I also find fascinating to add on
to that a little bit more is the fact that
Ian territories where we see lions living today, you also
have solitary cats like leopards, so that again it brings
that sort of contrasts. Well, wait a minute, if being
in a pride.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Helps with survival, why don't other cats do this, especially
in the same habitat.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
And honestly, from whatever, no one really knows for sure
why lions have created the pride social group where other
cat species like the leopard, in the same habitat remains solitary.
But what we do know is that living in a
pride allows the females to share cub rearing responsibilities, allows
for a group hunting which can be very effective, and
the males can better protect their offspring and thus keeping
their genetics going for more generations.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Oh yeah, I mean one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
And to me, it's getting me thinking about adaptability too, right,
I mean yeah, again, Like I love carnivores and one
of my favorite things about carnivors, and it can be
disputed with herbivores as well, is the need for being
intelligent and adaptable. I mean, you are quite literally putting
yourself in physical harm when you're trying to capture your prey.
I mean, an animal is not gonna sit there and
let itself just get gobbled up, right, It's going to
(05:02):
fight back, It's going.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
To run away.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
So I mean a lion, a carnival really needs to
think about what they're about to do. And when I
think of that, I think of lines and that adaptability.
And you just mentioned what a solitary line to thirty
lines together. That is crazy when you think about that adaptability.
And these lions have moved from Africa to Europe. People
forget that there are lines in India and.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Asia as well.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Right before this episode, you and I were just talking
about these adaptabilities and I had mentioned that I was
reading that in South America. Now mountain lions is an example, right,
and call them Buma's mountain lions. There's a lot of
air form, right, We're talking about our lions here, so
our pumas in the Americas. There is an evidence now
of mountain lions or pumas in South America that are
now starting to group together and they've never really seen
(05:45):
that behavior before. Now it's not to the extent of
a pride of lions, let's say beginning exactly. It makes
me like is how it started, you know, like, what
exactly happened that made the line focus on that? To
your point, the ocelot in South America, say, or the jaguar,
the cheetah, these cats are not working together to the
extent of a lion. Yeah, So kudos to the lines
(06:06):
of the lionesses for being so adaptable and social to
boot yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, Well, you know, it's funny you had mentioned that
lions were once found in other regions as well. And
one of my favorite facts that I was looking up
and I get this question from kids sometimes when we're
talking about different African species, is well, why do they
call them.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
The king of the jungle?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Oh yeah, right, yeah? Why is that?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Because in our modern times you look at documentaries or
see wildlife magazines or whatever else, they tend to be
in savannahs in dry areas of Africa, So that's.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Not technically about jungle, right.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So interestingly enough, as you mentioned earlier, the term king
of the jungle predates modern day lion populations because the
Asiatic or Asian lion population which currently today is only
sadly around four hundred to five hundred individuals depending on
what study you look at, and that population is only
found in a national park in India. However, in the
tenth century, when there's a lot of written documentation about lions,
(06:57):
they were found throughout Western Asia and the Middle East,
with populations in savannahs, grasslands, jungles, wooded areas and everything else.
So that is where at least it's understood possibly that
the root of the term king of the jungle came from.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Huh, that's interesting, you know it kinda It's a good segue, honestly,
because my other line fact, the one really that I
was doing some research on because I was super passionate
about it, was their connection.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
With human beings.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Honestly, back when we were all hunting and chasing down prey.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
There are some established predators in those areas in.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Africa to boot right, and I got some really cool
factcy like, for instance, when early Homo sapiens arrived in
Europe and Central Asia after migrating that second wave coming
out of Africa hominid, it's a homo erectus there called.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
They encountered these established lines. So that's unique.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
How human culture was more than shape by having these
established predators in these areas. I mean they were being
hunted as well. You know, these are really big lines.
There's even evidence from in Europe. There's this cave hopefully
I'm not I can't speak French, right, it's Chevel Cave
in France. If I'm saying this correctly, there is the earliest.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Caveingunting out there.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
And it is thirty thousand years ago that this depiction
of lions is hunting out there in Yip, which.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I think is crazy.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
And you think all those nuances, and I started looking around,
like where else in human culture was seeing the lions,
and it's everywhere. I mean I literally just got back
from Boston and in Boston Public Library, you see these
two giant statues of.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Lions, right, you see him everywhere.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
For instance, in Swahili, the word lion is simba and
its direct translation for power and strength, right, which makes sense. Mesopotamians,
they consider the line as a symbol of kingship and
they linked it to Gilgames, which is a central hero
in their mythology. In Hinduism and one of the ten
avatars of visionary the god of preservation is Narashimha, a
man lion that serves as the god of protection, and
(08:41):
it goes on. I mean, in Japan you have the
lion dogs, or for instance, because it was my birthday recently,
that's what I wanted to point out.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
In Western astrology, thank you, the.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Consolation Leo, right, is represented by a lion, one of
the twelve zodiac signs. So it's a sign of passion,
the creativity, and leadership. And I think of all these
things because again for me, sometimes I think about the
underdog species that doesn't get the attention, right. So sometimes,
for instance, when you're telling me we're going to talk lions,
I thought, oh, another mammal we're going to talk about.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
But there's a point to that, and we're laughing about it.
But you know, you know why, right.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Sometimes I want a kid to be just as excited
about a toco tucnisps to the lion of the elephant.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
But there's a reason for this.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
These animals they connect with us in a certain way
and we can use that passion right with the flagship species. Right,
you help a line as an example, or maybe a
giant panda, and you're going to be indirectly helping out
so many other animals as well. And then when I
started going into this history deep dive, just seeing how
lines affected people in positive and negative way is it's
pretty awesome, man.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
So they definitely deserve our respect to so absolutely.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And I love that you did that deep dive because
you can go to many parts of Europe and on
the crests of many of the royal families there's a
lion and a wide variety of the European cultures, and
then you go over into Asia and you see it
there on a lot of the temples as well. Yes,
there's dances that represent the lion that not just Africa,
but other parts of Asia as well. And so there's
(10:02):
a deep roote of lions being a part of human culture.
And to your point, one way or the other, whether
they're influencing how we evolved and moved from one area
to another and we had to compete with them or
how there's a deep.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Respect for them as well.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
And I just have to point out to again as
soon who's been fortunate enough to work with these animals
when you go to the San diego Zo It's front park,
that's really the opportunity to see just how magnificent they are. Yes,
they're cats, Yes they'll sleep twenty hours a day, but
they want but still you can get a good look
and just how big and magnificent and powerful these animals are. Earlier,
we were talking about the benefits of lions living in
(10:38):
a pride and how it's helpful in raising the cubs
and the overall safety and hunting. Of course, being carnivores,
when it comes to hunting and living in a pride.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You have to be able to feed everybody, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
I mean big family feast on lions share, right, so
lion's share exactly. This is kind of where it comes
from where a solitary predator like a cheetah, let's say,
or a leopard can survive off of a small a
gazelle because it's feeding just them in the cubs or
maybe a partner that they're with. They can't hunt or
take down something like a wildebe zebra, k buffalo, or
a draft, which is something lions do. Because they live
(11:10):
in this pride. That means they can work together and
successfully hunt.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Their larger prey. So this is what's fascinating too.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
You're talking about hat tip to the females who are
really coordinating and leaving the pride. These ladies have figured
out some of the best hunting techniques where they'll send
two to chase a prey item towards others that are
hiding in the grass. The idea that they have this
concept of okay, you go hide there, we're gonna go
down wind over here and then chase these animals towards you.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
You jump on them, will jump on them, and we'll
get them.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
And so they can overpower these larger prey by just
the sheer numbers. And of course, then like you said,
they get the lion's share of the meal. And it's
worth noting this is an interesting fun fact for you
because they are hunting larger prey.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Of course they can feast.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
There's statistics out there that say a male lion can
consume upwards of eighty to one hundred pounds of food
in one city.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So there's a lion's share, right.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
So the gorging themselves like that, though they don't do
that every single day. When we think of these carnivores eating,
they're not eating multiple times a day or even daily.
They will gorge themselves and then lay down and digest
for the next couple of days, and they might go
several days to a week or more without eating again,
because this is sort of their natural way of doing things.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Again, back to that adaptability. Even with that, we were talking,
you know, very prey. I mean I remember certain prides
that they would use the more experienced females to be
the ambush hunters because they knew exactly how to grab
the portion of the neck. You know, we'll get too
graphic for the kids you're listening, but there's certain ways
they have to hunt. I remember there was a pride
specifically they needed to bring in the male line because
they were hunting kate buffalo and that is a very
(12:37):
powerful animal trying to take down.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So kudos for that.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
But you know, just if there are some other little
options there, you know, not only meat, but sometimes these
animals they're living in some really extreme areas.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I mean you said King of the Jungle.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yes, they were found were found in these tropical areas,
but also in very dry savannah type habitats, and there's
evidence of lines even eating a local melon hopefully and
pronouncing right at the summa melon that they've been seen
ingesting this to get some nutrients. Water, yeah, hydration, right,
So I think that's wild to me. Again, just the
adaptability of that with these animals.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Animals are smart, you know, and I know it.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Of course, this episode has been inspired by World Lion Day,
so we would be remiss not to talk a little
bit about the conservation some of the challenges they are facing,
because this is what really amazing wildlife is about. Is
we get to talk about how cool and amazing and
wonderfully these animals are, but we have to do it
with some responsibility. So lions, like much of the wildlife
around the world, are facing many challenges such as disease
(13:31):
and hunting from humans, loss of habitat. In fact, the
International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies them as vulnerable,
with a trend of population declining unfortunately at this time,
and there are plenty of conservations out there that point
out that the current trends meet the criteria to listen
as endangered. So we might see them switch to endangered
in the.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Next four or five years. We'll have to see what happens.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Now, natural habitat for lions is found unfortunately only in
protective reserves, and lion movement between prides is becoming more
limited now. The challenger mentioned the prides of females will
stay in the same pride, but the males switch prides
move around to help switch up the genetics, which is
important for a healthy population. And this also means then
that they can have challenges when hunting for food as well.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
But then there's the other side of it too, because
they are on these reserves, there's a lot of.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Populations that are getting too big for the space they're in.
So unfortunately the rangers find themselves placing the females on
birth control to try and reduce the numbers of cubs
being born.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Now currently San Diego Zoo Wildlife lions. As you know,
if you listen to the other episode about Awasta Leans
you did. I hope you didn't. If you didn't, go
back and check it out because it's awesome. It's great.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
We directly support and work with lion conservation and ken
you recognizing that the conservation of lions has to be
reconciled with the needs of humans, and that's what's really
cool about a lot of the work we're doing, we
talk about a lot on this show is that it
is the people who live with the wildlife that are
going to be able to make the difference, and that's
where we find it's most impactful to support them.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Sometimes conflict, of course, is unavoidable.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
In areas where there's agriculture and livestock and we have
to compete with these habitats. But together, working in these
environm people are working on finding ways to minimize that
conflict or eliminate it altogether.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
I mean, I think we can do it, friend, right,
I mean we actually, yeah, we have amazing collaborators. We
always say conservation begins with people, and it does one
hundred percent. When I first started working for the Safari Park,
I had the privilege of meeting Massai warriors that were
coming in to talk about their stories. Shout out to
William and to Michael, and they were telling me, you know,
being young Massi warriors, that the tradition was to hunt
mail lions. But you know, to the episode we just
(15:27):
spoke about, people can change their traditions a little bit
to help out the wildlife and their own backyard, right,
And I don't want to live in a world with
not a lion out right. None of us want to
do that. So just a reminder for all your kids
out there, you can get part of all these conservation
efforts from lions. You are Mountain lion here right in
the United States as well.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Well. As much as we can go on and on
about lions all day, I.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Think we do need to wrap this episode up, but
before we do, I want to remind our listeners that
you can find lions at the San Diego Zoo over
in the Elephant Odyssey area.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
And you can find them at the San Diego Zoo
Safari Park over at Lion Camp.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
It's true.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Oh but hey, Rick, you know what I think I'm
getting an idea for our next episode.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, what's that?
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Well, I mean, you know you mentioned about lines being carnivores, right,
so I was thinking we could head back to the
horticulture team since that bamboo episode was so much fun,
go to the San Diego Zoo and find out more
about carnivorous plants.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Oh, I was wondering where you're going with that, But
I like that idea. Well you heard them.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Everyone be sure to subscribe and tune into our next episode,
where we find out more about botanical bug eaters, also
known as carnivorous plants.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Marko Lentz and I'm Rick Schwartz. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San
Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to SDZWA dot org. Amazing
Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio. Our supervising producers are
Nikia Swinton and Dylan Fagan, and our sound designers are
Sierra sprem and Matt Russell. For more shows from iHeartRadio,
check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
(17:01):
listen to your favorite shows.
Hi, I'm rich Schwartz. What is the world?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Marco Wentz.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of
wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts.
This podcast is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studio and
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and international nonprofit conservation organization
which oversees the San Diego Zoo and Safari bark.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Thick.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Last Saturday, August tenth was Worldline Day, and it's a
day where around the world we raise awareness of the
many conservation efforts going on for lions and of course
lion habitat.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
That's right, Marco.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
And before we jump too far into this episode about lions,
I want to remind any listeners who did not hear
the episode we did last year where we interviewed the
founder and director of a wast of Lions to go
back and listen to that episode, Season two, Episode two
with the title Maiinless and Prideless Kenya's Solitary Lions. It
is a very specific look into the lions in and
(01:00):
around the Samburu National Preserve and Kenya, and it's honestly fascinating.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Oh yeah, that was.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Such a good episode.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I mean they were literally recording in their tent, right,
that was awesome. And those particular lines, I mean they
are so unique in their behavior, and I mean the
fact that the males don't even have mains.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, in this episode, though, we're going to zoom out
out as far as we can to be less specific
about a region and discuss some amazing wildlife lion facts.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
And for you, our listeners, since we don't have a
guest for this particular episode, we thought it'd be kind
of fun for Rick and I to swap out some
of our favorite lion facts and conservation information.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
All right, Marco, I will let you start it off.
Hit us with one of your favorite lion facts.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Now, you know, friend, I'm a huge fan of lines.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
I mean, they're not a bird, but yes, they're not
a bird, but I will say they're a carnivore, and
of all the wildlife out there, it's always been a
fan of carnivores, right, And being from a this is
kind of signo being from a Mexican family, the nuances.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Of being Machi smoll you know, the dominant man.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
You know, a lot of times I remember having conversations
and my father in particular about a lion and what
it represents and strength and power, which.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I totally get.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
But I've always loved to remind them too that you know,
it's not really the male lion who really is the
core of the social structure of this particular species, right,
And his mind was just blown. It's the females, right,
It's all about the females. Yes, the male line has
a very important role, protecting the prime, keeping the territory
nice and safe, sometimes even helping bring down much larger prey.
(02:28):
But in reality, you know, this pride, this social group,
it's all tied in with females, sisters, granddaughters, all working
together to help keeping this vital pride, this family structure
in play.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I just think that's incredible.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I think, yeah, yeah, no, I love it. I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And to roll into that a little further, I think
what's fascinating is of all the cat species.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And I have loved cats my life.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I've had oh yeah, I've had cats in my life
ever since I was a kid.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I've worked with cat species.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
I've worked with tigers, I've worked with small cats like
oslots and servals, I've worked with jaguars and leopards, and
what's fascinating is lions are the only one. Like you said,
they live in a pride or a social group. Now,
a pride can have anywhere from three to thirty lions
made up of the lionesses like you said, the mothers,
the sisters, cousins, granddaughters, and their cubs, along with a
(03:14):
few unrelated males. And to go further into that, the
lion pride has a very close bond. They rarely will
ever accept an outsider into the pride. However, unrelated males
usually will only stay in the pride for a few years,
but the older lionesses will stay for life. So again
kind of going back to what you're saying with that
not officially a matriarchal setup, but that core group there.
(03:36):
And as we learned during the episode that you mentioned
from last year in dry areas with less food where
we were talking about the lions in the Samburu area
of Kenya, the prides are smaller and sometimes lions can
even end up being solitary, but in habitats with more
food and water, prides can have easily four to eight
adult lionesses with all their offspring, even one or two
adult males, bringing the numbers anywhere from ten to thirty
(03:56):
in that group.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Wow, can even have like ten thirty.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Different right exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
But then what I also find fascinating to add on
to that a little bit more is the fact that
Ian territories where we see lions living today, you also
have solitary cats like leopards, so that again it brings
that sort of contrasts. Well, wait a minute, if being
in a pride.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Helps with survival, why don't other cats do this, especially
in the same habitat.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
And honestly, from whatever, no one really knows for sure
why lions have created the pride social group where other
cat species like the leopard, in the same habitat remains solitary.
But what we do know is that living in a
pride allows the females to share cub rearing responsibilities, allows
for a group hunting which can be very effective, and
the males can better protect their offspring and thus keeping
their genetics going for more generations.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Oh yeah, I mean one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
And to me, it's getting me thinking about adaptability too, right,
I mean yeah, again, Like I love carnivores and one
of my favorite things about carnivors, and it can be
disputed with herbivores as well, is the need for being
intelligent and adaptable. I mean, you are quite literally putting
yourself in physical harm when you're trying to capture your prey.
I mean, an animal is not gonna sit there and
let itself just get gobbled up, right, It's going to
(05:02):
fight back, It's going.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
To run away.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
So I mean a lion, a carnival really needs to
think about what they're about to do. And when I
think of that, I think of lines and that adaptability.
And you just mentioned what a solitary line to thirty
lines together. That is crazy when you think about that adaptability.
And these lions have moved from Africa to Europe. People
forget that there are lines in India and.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Asia as well.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Right before this episode, you and I were just talking
about these adaptabilities and I had mentioned that I was
reading that in South America. Now mountain lions is an example, right,
and call them Buma's mountain lions. There's a lot of
air form, right, We're talking about our lions here, so
our pumas in the Americas. There is an evidence now
of mountain lions or pumas in South America that are
now starting to group together and they've never really seen
(05:45):
that behavior before. Now it's not to the extent of
a pride of lions, let's say beginning exactly. It makes
me like is how it started, you know, like, what
exactly happened that made the line focus on that? To
your point, the ocelot in South America, say, or the jaguar,
the cheetah, these cats are not working together to the
extent of a lion. Yeah, So kudos to the lines
(06:06):
of the lionesses for being so adaptable and social to
boot yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, Well, you know, it's funny you had mentioned that
lions were once found in other regions as well. And
one of my favorite facts that I was looking up
and I get this question from kids sometimes when we're
talking about different African species, is well, why do they
call them.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
The king of the jungle?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Oh yeah, right, yeah? Why is that?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Because in our modern times you look at documentaries or
see wildlife magazines or whatever else, they tend to be
in savannahs in dry areas of Africa, So that's.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Not technically about jungle, right.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So interestingly enough, as you mentioned earlier, the term king
of the jungle predates modern day lion populations because the
Asiatic or Asian lion population which currently today is only
sadly around four hundred to five hundred individuals depending on
what study you look at, and that population is only
found in a national park in India. However, in the
tenth century, when there's a lot of written documentation about lions,
(06:57):
they were found throughout Western Asia and the Middle East,
with populations in savannahs, grasslands, jungles, wooded areas and everything else.
So that is where at least it's understood possibly that
the root of the term king of the jungle came from.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Huh, that's interesting, you know it kinda It's a good segue, honestly,
because my other line fact, the one really that I
was doing some research on because I was super passionate
about it, was their connection.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
With human beings.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Honestly, back when we were all hunting and chasing down prey.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
There are some established predators in those areas in.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Africa to boot right, and I got some really cool
factcy like, for instance, when early Homo sapiens arrived in
Europe and Central Asia after migrating that second wave coming
out of Africa hominid, it's a homo erectus there called.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
They encountered these established lines. So that's unique.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
How human culture was more than shape by having these
established predators in these areas. I mean they were being
hunted as well. You know, these are really big lines.
There's even evidence from in Europe. There's this cave hopefully
I'm not I can't speak French, right, it's Chevel Cave
in France. If I'm saying this correctly, there is the earliest.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Caveingunting out there.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
And it is thirty thousand years ago that this depiction
of lions is hunting out there in Yip, which.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I think is crazy.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
And you think all those nuances, and I started looking around,
like where else in human culture was seeing the lions,
and it's everywhere. I mean I literally just got back
from Boston and in Boston Public Library, you see these
two giant statues of.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Lions, right, you see him everywhere.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
For instance, in Swahili, the word lion is simba and
its direct translation for power and strength, right, which makes sense. Mesopotamians,
they consider the line as a symbol of kingship and
they linked it to Gilgames, which is a central hero
in their mythology. In Hinduism and one of the ten
avatars of visionary the god of preservation is Narashimha, a
man lion that serves as the god of protection, and
(08:41):
it goes on. I mean, in Japan you have the
lion dogs, or for instance, because it was my birthday recently,
that's what I wanted to point out.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
In Western astrology, thank you, the.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Consolation Leo, right, is represented by a lion, one of
the twelve zodiac signs. So it's a sign of passion,
the creativity, and leadership. And I think of all these
things because again for me, sometimes I think about the
underdog species that doesn't get the attention, right. So sometimes,
for instance, when you're telling me we're going to talk lions,
I thought, oh, another mammal we're going to talk about.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
But there's a point to that, and we're laughing about it.
But you know, you know why, right.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Sometimes I want a kid to be just as excited
about a toco tucnisps to the lion of the elephant.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
But there's a reason for this.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
These animals they connect with us in a certain way
and we can use that passion right with the flagship species. Right,
you help a line as an example, or maybe a
giant panda, and you're going to be indirectly helping out
so many other animals as well. And then when I
started going into this history deep dive, just seeing how
lines affected people in positive and negative way is it's
pretty awesome, man.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
So they definitely deserve our respect to so absolutely.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And I love that you did that deep dive because
you can go to many parts of Europe and on
the crests of many of the royal families there's a
lion and a wide variety of the European cultures, and
then you go over into Asia and you see it
there on a lot of the temples as well. Yes,
there's dances that represent the lion that not just Africa,
but other parts of Asia as well. And so there's
(10:02):
a deep roote of lions being a part of human culture.
And to your point, one way or the other, whether
they're influencing how we evolved and moved from one area
to another and we had to compete with them or
how there's a deep.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Respect for them as well.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
And I just have to point out to again as
soon who's been fortunate enough to work with these animals
when you go to the San diego Zo It's front park,
that's really the opportunity to see just how magnificent they are. Yes,
they're cats, Yes they'll sleep twenty hours a day, but
they want but still you can get a good look
and just how big and magnificent and powerful these animals are. Earlier,
we were talking about the benefits of lions living in
(10:38):
a pride and how it's helpful in raising the cubs
and the overall safety and hunting. Of course, being carnivores,
when it comes to hunting and living in a pride.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You have to be able to feed everybody, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
I mean big family feast on lions share, right, so
lion's share exactly. This is kind of where it comes
from where a solitary predator like a cheetah, let's say,
or a leopard can survive off of a small a
gazelle because it's feeding just them in the cubs or
maybe a partner that they're with. They can't hunt or
take down something like a wildebe zebra, k buffalo, or
a draft, which is something lions do. Because they live
(11:10):
in this pride. That means they can work together and
successfully hunt.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Their larger prey. So this is what's fascinating too.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
You're talking about hat tip to the females who are
really coordinating and leaving the pride. These ladies have figured
out some of the best hunting techniques where they'll send
two to chase a prey item towards others that are
hiding in the grass. The idea that they have this
concept of okay, you go hide there, we're gonna go
down wind over here and then chase these animals towards you.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
You jump on them, will jump on them, and we'll
get them.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
And so they can overpower these larger prey by just
the sheer numbers. And of course, then like you said,
they get the lion's share of the meal. And it's
worth noting this is an interesting fun fact for you
because they are hunting larger prey.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Of course they can feast.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
There's statistics out there that say a male lion can
consume upwards of eighty to one hundred pounds of food
in one city.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So there's a lion's share, right.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
So the gorging themselves like that, though they don't do
that every single day. When we think of these carnivores eating,
they're not eating multiple times a day or even daily.
They will gorge themselves and then lay down and digest
for the next couple of days, and they might go
several days to a week or more without eating again,
because this is sort of their natural way of doing things.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Again, back to that adaptability. Even with that, we were talking,
you know, very prey. I mean I remember certain prides
that they would use the more experienced females to be
the ambush hunters because they knew exactly how to grab
the portion of the neck. You know, we'll get too
graphic for the kids you're listening, but there's certain ways
they have to hunt. I remember there was a pride
specifically they needed to bring in the male line because
they were hunting kate buffalo and that is a very
(12:37):
powerful animal trying to take down.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So kudos for that.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
But you know, just if there are some other little
options there, you know, not only meat, but sometimes these
animals they're living in some really extreme areas.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I mean you said King of the Jungle.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yes, they were found were found in these tropical areas,
but also in very dry savannah type habitats, and there's
evidence of lines even eating a local melon hopefully and
pronouncing right at the summa melon that they've been seen
ingesting this to get some nutrients. Water, yeah, hydration, right,
So I think that's wild to me. Again, just the
adaptability of that with these animals.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Animals are smart, you know, and I know it.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Of course, this episode has been inspired by World Lion Day,
so we would be remiss not to talk a little
bit about the conservation some of the challenges they are facing,
because this is what really amazing wildlife is about. Is
we get to talk about how cool and amazing and
wonderfully these animals are, but we have to do it
with some responsibility. So lions, like much of the wildlife
around the world, are facing many challenges such as disease
(13:31):
and hunting from humans, loss of habitat. In fact, the
International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies them as vulnerable,
with a trend of population declining unfortunately at this time,
and there are plenty of conservations out there that point
out that the current trends meet the criteria to listen
as endangered. So we might see them switch to endangered
in the.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Next four or five years. We'll have to see what happens.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Now, natural habitat for lions is found unfortunately only in
protective reserves, and lion movement between prides is becoming more
limited now. The challenger mentioned the prides of females will
stay in the same pride, but the males switch prides
move around to help switch up the genetics, which is
important for a healthy population. And this also means then
that they can have challenges when hunting for food as well.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
But then there's the other side of it too, because
they are on these reserves, there's a lot of.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Populations that are getting too big for the space they're in.
So unfortunately the rangers find themselves placing the females on
birth control to try and reduce the numbers of cubs
being born.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Now currently San Diego Zoo Wildlife lions. As you know,
if you listen to the other episode about Awasta Leans
you did. I hope you didn't. If you didn't, go
back and check it out because it's awesome. It's great.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
We directly support and work with lion conservation and ken
you recognizing that the conservation of lions has to be
reconciled with the needs of humans, and that's what's really
cool about a lot of the work we're doing, we
talk about a lot on this show is that it
is the people who live with the wildlife that are
going to be able to make the difference, and that's
where we find it's most impactful to support them.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Sometimes conflict, of course, is unavoidable.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
In areas where there's agriculture and livestock and we have
to compete with these habitats. But together, working in these
environm people are working on finding ways to minimize that
conflict or eliminate it altogether.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
I mean, I think we can do it, friend, right,
I mean we actually, yeah, we have amazing collaborators. We
always say conservation begins with people, and it does one
hundred percent. When I first started working for the Safari Park,
I had the privilege of meeting Massai warriors that were
coming in to talk about their stories. Shout out to
William and to Michael, and they were telling me, you know,
being young Massi warriors, that the tradition was to hunt
mail lions. But you know, to the episode we just
(15:27):
spoke about, people can change their traditions a little bit
to help out the wildlife and their own backyard, right,
And I don't want to live in a world with
not a lion out right. None of us want to
do that. So just a reminder for all your kids
out there, you can get part of all these conservation
efforts from lions. You are Mountain lion here right in
the United States as well.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Well. As much as we can go on and on
about lions all day, I.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Think we do need to wrap this episode up, but
before we do, I want to remind our listeners that
you can find lions at the San Diego Zoo over
in the Elephant Odyssey area.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
And you can find them at the San Diego Zoo
Safari Park over at Lion Camp.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
It's true.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Oh but hey, Rick, you know what I think I'm
getting an idea for our next episode.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, what's that?
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Well, I mean, you know you mentioned about lines being carnivores, right,
so I was thinking we could head back to the
horticulture team since that bamboo episode was so much fun,
go to the San Diego Zoo and find out more
about carnivorous plants.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Oh, I was wondering where you're going with that, But
I like that idea. Well you heard them.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Everyone be sure to subscribe and tune into our next episode,
where we find out more about botanical bug eaters, also
known as carnivorous plants.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Marko Lentz and I'm Rick Schwartz. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San
Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to SDZWA dot org. Amazing
Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio. Our supervising producers are
Nikia Swinton and Dylan Fagan, and our sound designers are
Sierra sprem and Matt Russell. For more shows from iHeartRadio,
check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
(17:01):
listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Rick Schwartz
Marco Wendt
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