There has been many scientific studies done about lions so it may sound superfluous to present this animal yet again. But it may be useful to give some facts about the animal itself and its biology: the lion as we know it in art, comics, cartoons, films, literature, etc has sometimes very little to do with the lion that exists and survives in the wild.

The lion is a carnivorous mammal, a member of the cat family and belongs to the genus Panthera which includes the tiger, the leopard and the jaguar, for they are the only cats with the ability to roar. The lion is the second biggest cat after the tiger, with a weight and size reaching respectively 250 kgs and 2m50.

The sexual dimorphism between male and female is quite important: the lion sports a mane while the lioness doesn't and is smaller. Since the pride lionesses do most of the hunting, male lions are viewed as poor hunters... However, before they can take over a pride, male lions still have to fend for themselves, which also means they have to hunt... While they can feed on carrion and steal from other predators, they prove to be skillful hunters. Once they are part of a pride, they often lend a hand to the lionesses when they tackle a really big and dangerous prey like the African buffalo.

Lions are unusual for they are social cats and live in groups or prides. The females in a pride are related to each other and share hunting and parental duties. The adult males are only transient: they may reign on a pride of females for an average of two years and father cubs, before being driven away (or killed) by other males.

Lions can live up to 20 years in captivity but their lifespan in the wild is of 10-15 years on average or even less, the male lions tending to live violent and short lives.

Lions are now confined to Sub-Saharian Africa and the Gir Forest in India but it hasn't always been so...

The earliest record of the lion's presence is at Laetoli in Tanzania, around 3.5 Ma ago. No fossil record has been found for the lion or its ancestors before then. Eventually, the lion made its way to Europe and first appeared in Isernia in Italy about 700,000 years ago. Baptised Panthera leo fossilis, it could be up to one meter longer than the extant African lion. The European cave lion (Panthera leo spelaea) is considered to have derived from it. The lion was also present in America and could be found as far as Peru: it is thought that European cave lions entered Alaska from Siberia by crossing the Beringia Isthmus and gave rise to the American lion (Panthera Atrox).
Cave lions died out about 10,000 years ago but some authorities suspect that cave lions may have lived in the Balkans in Europe as recently as 2,000 years ago, well into historic times. The type of lion that lived in the Balkan Peninsula at the time may also have been the Asiatic lion or even an altogether different subspecie named the European lion (Panthera leo europaea), that would have derived from panthera leo spelaea. The romanian author Nicolae Densusianu mentions the possible presence of the cave lion in the Balkans in his excellent book "Prehistoric Dacia" (1913 available in its entirety online and in English)and its impact on the local folklore here.

It seems apparent now, from rock paintings discovered in Europe that male cave lions either didn't have a mane or only had a ruff.

Rock paintings depicting lions (Grotte Chauvet, France)

Rock paintings depicting lions (Grotte Chauvet, France)

White lions exist in the wild alongside the normal tawny coat colour and they occur in South Africa. They are not albino but leucistic: their lips, eyes and paw pads are normally pigmented.
Sightings of white lions in the wild had been recorded for the first time in the 1920s and the book "White lions of Timbavati" by Chris Mc Bride, brought their existence to world attention in the 70s.
Their colour was long thought to impair their survival in the wild: being white was supposed to make them unable to blend with their surroundings and drive prey away from them. However, the reintroduction of white lions within their endemic range (The Timbavati region) in 2003 has dispelled this misperception: white lions have proven to be as capable as tawny lions to hunt and live in the wild.

For more information, visit this website:
www.whitelions.org
There is also what appears to be a very beautiful film due to come out in 2008:
White Lion: home... is a journey official website
White Lion trailer

Some authorities believe that melanistic lions cannot exist: melanistic leopards and jaguars (black panthers) are quite common because their coat-colour is an adaptation to a life in the jungle and allow them to blend with the luxurious vegetation. Lions however, wouldn't require such adaptation for they tend to live in savannahs or bush-like environments with sparse vegetation and, never live in jungles. The genetic trait responsible for melanism isn't present in the lion's gene pool, as it is for the leopard and jaguar.

However, there has been one sighting of a black lion in Persia, reported by the archaeologist Sir Henry Layard: the animal was described as very large and "very dark brown in colour, in parts almost black." The report has never been confirmed.

A partly black lion was born in 1975 in Glasgow Zoo. He proved to be infertile, in spite of mating frequently with a female known to be fertile. The lion wasn't thought to be truly melanistic: the patch of black he exhibited on his front leg and chest was probably due to abnormal skin cells.

Chocolate brown and reddish brown lions have also been reported, with the case of a black lioness in the Okavango in Africa. Those reports have never been substantiated.

As for myself, I'll just keep an open mind.

The Asiatic lion is a subspecie of lion which ranged from Northern Greece to Central India. Slightky smaller than the African lion, the Asiatic lion displays a characteristic fold of skin running along its belly and, while the mane is less abundant and shorter than its African cousin, it has thicker elbow tufts and tail tuft. Their prides aren't as big as African lions prides, probably owing to the smaller size of the prey available in the area: two Asiatic female lions and their cubs constitute the core of a pride, compared to the four or six African lionesses family group. The dominant males keep very loose ties with the females, joining them only to mate or to feed on a large kill; they also seem to be even more short-fused than their African counterparts when it comes to interact with their offspring.
Asiatic lions came very close to extinction before they came under the protection of the Nawab of Junagadh in 1907, when their population was reduced to a dozen of individuals. (the number may have been made up to further discourage lion hunting.)
Nowadays confined to the Gir Forest, the lions have given signs of trying to expand their territory by getting out of the reserve: read the article from Express India.

Visit the following websites, for more information and news about the Asiatic lion and its conservation.

http://www.asiatic-lion.org/
http://www.asiaticlion.org/

Narasimha is one of Vishnu's avatars and widely worshipped in India. He is said to be fiercely protective of his devotees and to defend them in times of need. A large number of ancient Puranic scriptures mentions the story of Narasimha. Vishnu took the shape of a lion-headed man in order to slay the demon Hiranyakashipu.

Vishnu had previously killed Hiranyakashipu's brother Hiranyaksha. Furious, Hiranyakashipu devoted years of austerities to Brahma who, pleased by his devotion, granted him the power to be invulnerable to attacks from man, beast or deva.

As Hiranyakashipu was away from home to perform his austerities, Indra and the other devas grabbed the opportunity to attack it, as well as his wife Kayadu. Fortunately, the divine sage Narada intervened and rescued Kayadu. As she was pregnant with Hiranyakashipu's son Prahlada, Narada's instructions to the unborn child affected him to be a devotee of Vishnu, which further angered Hiranyakashipu who decided to put his own son to death. But Vishnu took Prahlada under his protection and each attempt on his life failed.
Hiranyakashipu finally asked his son to aknowledge him, his father, as the supreme lord of the universe but Prahlada refused to do so, replying that Vishnu's presence pervades everything. Furious, Hiranyakashipu pointed at a nearby pillar and asked Prahlada if Vishnu was in it. When Prahlada voiced his conviction that Vishnu was in it, Hiranyakashipu smashed the pillar with his mace in anger.
Vishnu, in the shape of Narasimha, suddenly emerged from the pillar and attacked Hiranyakashipu immediately, in order to protect Prahlada. Narasimha's form was chosen to go around the protection Brahma had granted Hiranyakashipu: since Hiranyakashipu couldn't be killed by human, deva or animal, Narasimha was the most appropriate form to slay him since he was neither of these...
Narasimha attacked Hiranyakashipu at twilight, when it was neither day nor night, on the threshold of a courtyard, neither indoors nor out, put the demon on his thighs, neither ground nor space and, using his lion's claws, neither animate nor inanimate weapons, he disembowelled and killed the demon.
However Narasimha's fury wasn't quenched with Hiranyakashipu's death and, when various gods and goddesses tried to calm him in turn, Narasimha proved to be quite a handful even to Shiva. Prahlada was finally presented to Narasimha and his devotee's prayers eventually appeased his wrath.

More information about Narasimha here:
Narasimha's homepage
Narasimha's temple at Yadagiri Gutta

Valentine dancing lion couple
by

Lioness_Graphics

Get this custom card
at Zazzle





Valentine dancing lion couple notecard
by

Lioness_Graphics

Get this custom card
at Zazzle





Valentine dancing lion couple postcard
by

Lioness_Graphics

Get this custom postcard
at Zazzle





Valentine dancing lion couple mousepad
by

Lioness_Graphics

Get this custom mousepad
at Zazzle

The following designs are available on a variety of clothing and gift items and fully customizable





cartoony lion
by

Lioness_Graphics

Get this custom shirt
 at Zazzle





Lion of Zion T-shirt
by

Lioness_Graphics

Get this custom shirt
 at Zazzle





Mane Attraction
by

Lioness_Graphics

Get this custom shirt
 at Zazzle





Mane Attraction: Hair in Movement T-shirt
by

Lioness_Graphics

Get this custom shirt
 at Zazzle





Yummy lion T-Shirt
by

Lioness_Graphics

Get this custom shirt
 at Zazzle

The cute little Lion of Zion cartoon on a variety of clothing and gift items, all brand new and customizable.


If you want the design to be featured on a specific product, please get in touch

Lions are the only cats to have a mane but its function isn't understood.

The mane was initially thought to cushion blows and protect the lion's throat to some degree during fights: the myth has been dispelled recently when it was noticed that lions target the back and hindquarters when fighting. They rarely go for the throat itself. Even with maneless or thin-maned opponents, the lions still favour attacking the backside.

Having a mane and, a heavy mane at that, proves costly to its owner in many ways: it is hot, harbours parasites and is highly visible to potential preys. It also takes a lot of energy to grow...
Possessing a mane may be linked to the social nature of lions, unique among cats.
The darker and the longer the mane, the more it attracts females and intimidates other males. It also indicates a male of experience: old lions have longer, thicker and darker manes than younger individuals. It could also advertise the fitness of the lion: a sick or injured lion often display a thin mane or loses it altogether.
However, the thickness and abundance of the mane seems to be determined by climate as well: lions kept in zoos in Europe for example develope long and heavy manes; the Barbary lion, now extinct in the wild, lived in North Africa and displayed a luxuriant mane that extended to its groins, since North African climate is relatively colder than in Sub-Saharian parts of Africa.
It is thought that primitive species of lions didn't have a mane originally and, that the characteristic may be the fruit of an evolutive process.

So many factors influence mane growth, thickness, colour, presence or absence, determining its true function is made complicated.
After all, why do men grow beards?

The lion appears in folktales of countries where it lives or used to live... As the most formidable predator, the local populations were rightly frightened of it, in the same way people in Europe feared the wolf. These folktales often feature the lion, as fearsome and powerful as it is, being humbled or ridiculed by a much smaller animal.

Many of these stories are available online.
The Lion and the Hare India
The Lion and the Hare Bidpai
Singh Rajah [Lion King] and the Cunning Little Jackals India
Rabbit's Revenge Tibet
Brother Rabbit Conquers Brother Lion African-American, Joel Chandler Harris.

Lioness milk was endowed with miraculous properties in the Ancient World and, had the reputation to treat incurable diseases.

The great deal of difficulties involved in obtaining it made it a feat only possible to gods or beings endowed with superhuman powers. Bacchants, devoted to the cult of Dionysus (Bacchus for the Romans) were said to control wild animals and draw special strength from the raw meat of wild beasts. Lioness milk was also on their menu. The Greek poet Alcman wrote, referring to a nymph (one of Dionysus' companions) at the Festival held in honour of Dionysus:

"Time and again 'mid the mountain-tops, when the Gods take their pleasure in the torch-lit festival, you have carried a great can of the sort that shepherds carry, but all of gold and filled by your fair hand with the milk of a lioness, and therefore have made a great cheese, whole and unbroken and shining white."

The classic story "The Power of the Tongue" also refers to the miraculous properties of lioness milk. This story has its roots in the Jewish sacred books, Torah and Midrash. It goes as follow:

The Power of the Tongue

One day, the King or Persia fell very ill. His doctors told him that only a cup of lioness milk could cure him. Only nobody among his servants and helpers was bold enough to go and milk a lioness... When he turned to his friend King Solomon for help, the latter asked his most faithful helper to go and collect milk from a lioness. The helper agreed and set off to the mountain with ten goats.
He soon found a cave where a lioness was suckling her cubs. Over the next ten days, he sacrificed a goat to the lioness, moving closer each time. On the tenth day, having given his last goat to the lioness, he was close enough to touch her. The lioness was by then so used to his presence and well-fed, she allowed him to play with her cubs and to milk her.

King Solomon's cunning helper rushed back with a jar filled with lioness milk. On the way to Persia, he stopped and had a rest. During his slumber, the different parts of his body started to argue about who was the most important: the legs, the eyes, the mind and the hands were having a heated discussion when the tongue spoke up, saying that without the power of speech, nothing is possible... The other parts of the body made fun of the tongue and, reminded it that it played no part in getting milk from the lioness. The tongue replied they would soon agree it is the most important part of the body.

When the helper finally reached the King of Persia's palaced and was presented to him, the tongue said the milk contained in the jar was dog milk. Very offended, the King gave orders for King Solomon's servant to be thrown in jail.
Paniqued, the other parts of the body had to admit that the tongue was indeed the most important organ in the body. The tongue proceeded to tell the guards it had made a mistake, that it had meant to say the word 'lioness' instead of 'dog'. The servant was brought back to the king and explained the mistake, saying the hebrew word for 'lioness' may mean either 'lioness' or 'dog' and that he should put the liquid to the test by drinking it. The king drank the lioness milk and, was cured from his illness after a few days.

On his return to King Solomon's palace, the servant told him about the incident and King Solomon consigned it in his book of proverbs: "Life and death are in the power of the tongue."

The composition of Lion (Panthera Leo) milk

The composition of lioness'milk has been analysed and the results published in the 2004 Volume 69, Issue 6 of Mammalian Biology (formerly known as Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde).
The lionesses that provided the samples of milk were understandably immobilized.

Summary (found on Science Direct)
There is very little information on the composition of lion milk. Milk was obtained from all four teats of two African lionesses (Panthera leo) while they were temporarily immobilized; the first lioness was 40 hours postpartum and the second lioness was 10 days postpartum. The lion's milk obtained from the two lionesses in this study contained less solids than reported in literature. The milk of the two females contained, respectively, 192.2 and 166.9 g dry matter/kg milk; 60.2 and 84.6 g protein/kg milk; 113.6 and 136.9 g fat/kg milk; and 68.6 and 77.9 g fat free dry matter/kg milk. Carbohydrate content, analysed only for the first lioness, was 26.5 g lactose/kg milk. These values are much lower than those cited in literature. Electrophoresis and identification of protein bands showed a similar pattern of proteins as seen in cow's milk, but with caseins of less negative charge and whey proteins of smaller molecular size. The milk fat content of the second lioness was higher and varied considerably more among teats. The lipid fraction of lion's milk is characterized by a high content of saturated (palmitic and stearic) and mono-unsaturated (palmitoleic and oleic) fatty acids. Regarding fatty acid composition, lion milk closely resembles human milk. Animal fat plays an important role in the nutrition of African lions. The high fat content of lion milk suggests that the dependency by large predators such as lions on dietary fat is present from birth.

Apparently, this isn't the first time lioness milk is required for analysis, as shown in this article published in the Time Magazine on May 23 1927, that I find quite funny.

Bold

In Berlin, Captain Schneider, bold keeper of the Zoo, with a bucket in one hand, approached a matronly lioness named "Italy," squeezed rhythmically, left her cage with his bucket half full of lioness milk.
Captain Schneider promptly despatched "Italy's" milk to Professor Gerngross of the Technical High School of Berlin, who had asked for it for scientific researches.

MASHUBASHEN (The Story of the Lion Man) by Angela Hurrell This is meant to be a true account of an event that happened in 1905. A man alone in the South-African bush, seemingly managed to cooperate with lions that he viewed as his "children", to feed and survive in the wild.

Lions kill villagers after militiamen steal cubs
An article published in 2006: lions apparently besieged villages in Kenya, in an attempt to find their cubs.

Lions save girl from kidnappers
Published in 2005. Even if I have some difficulties in believing in the veracity of this story, I do find it very moving.

'La Chasse au lion à l'arc'('Hunting the Lion with bow and arrow') 80mn- (1965) is a wonderful film I saw when I was a kid at school (I was probably 10 or 11) but never saw again since...

From 1957 to 1964, the film maker and ethnologist Jean Rouch follows the Gao hunters from the Yatakala region in West Africa, as they trap and kill the lions who pose a threat to the herds. While lions are recognised as beneficial to herds for they eat sick animals, they have to be trapped and killed with poisoned arrows when they start preying on healthy cattle and killing too many beasts. One particular lion, nicknamed "the American" is wanted by the hunters who will only manage to kill one of his cubs and two of his females. Before the lion is skinned and eaten, its soul has to be exorcised.

If you have the opportunity to see this film, I would highly recommend it.
Jean Rouch has made other documentaries set in West Africa and his work is well worth being discovered or re-discovered.
Jean Rouch's tribute website In English.

Originally derived from lions accidentally trapped on an island, the lions found in the Duba swamps have grown to colossal sizes: lionesses weigh 160-170 kgs on average, as much as mainland male lions.The lions have to wade and swim in deep, crocodile-infested swamps, in pursuit of their dangerous prey: the buffalo.
A documentary, "Relentless enemies" by Dereck and Beverly Joubert follows three prides of lions that use different and elaborate hunting techniques.
The superlions marooned on an island

Derek and Beverly Joubert's Wildlife Films website
Some beautiful fine art prints of lions are on display for sale.

It would be interesting to see how the lions are doing now (the documentary came out in 2006). Their evolution as "super-cats" is relatively recent and they aren't actually "trapped" in the swamps: male cubs are believed to have left the area when they reached maturity and, the local gene pool is beneficiating from outside male lions that enter the area and, mate with the lionesses.
A study (which, unfortunately, isn't available online anymore) also shows Duba lions prey on other animals, such as warthog and lechwe, besides buffalo.

A BBC documentary titled "Swamp cats" about the Okavango lions was made in 2004. The film follows a family of lions and focuses on one cub born just before the annual flooding of the area. The lions and their way of life are rather less sensationalised in this film than in "Relentless Enemies", which isn't a bad thing, quite the contrary.

Tsavo lions are famous (or rather infamous) for being prone to eat human flesh. Two marauding males in particular went on a man-eating spree in March 1898 and killed and devoured 135 workers when the British built a railroad across Africa. They even brought the construction to a halt until they were both killed in December 1898, at a few weeks of interval.

Tsavo male lions are generally maneless, tend to be bigger and more aggressive than their cousins who live in grassy plains. They are also very unusual in their social system: one single male controls a large pride of females, instead of the usual male coalitions of two or three lions on average encountered elsewhere in Africa. They haven't been as much studied as the Serengeti lion and, their morphology, behaviour and social structure is somewhat at odd with what came to be considered the standard lion that lives in grassy plains and sports an abundant mane.

The reason why these lions lack a mane isn't understood yet: they may have evolved to be maneless because a heavy mane simply wasn't practical in the hot, dry Tsavo climate and, would have proved to be a hindrance when negotiating the thick and thorny undergrowth found there. It has also been suggested that a high level of male hormones, as well as making Tsavo lions highly aggressive, inhibits mane growth: in fact too much testosterone has been linked to baldness in humans.

Another interesting fact about Tsavo male lions: they tend to hunt more and don't rely as much on the females to do the hunting. Which means possessing a mane would be disadvantageous for a lion that needs to hunt and be able to approach a prey without being noticed: a mane would just make it stand out and drive prey away from it. In fact, the behaviour of these lions is consistent with a clear intention to not be seen and to conceal their presence not only from prey but also from potential rivals. In fact, they are said to be very cunning and difficult to find or approach by humans who seek them.

THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO AND Other East African Adventures
BY Lieut.-Col. J. H. Patterson, D.S.O. is the integral account of the man managing the railroad construction when the Tsavo lions stroke, available on Wikipedia.

The film recounting the events involving the two man-eating lions, is very loosely based on Patterson's account.

The lions used in the film have manes, presumably for esthetic reasons, making them look more fearsome and unmistakebly identified as male lions: film directors and producers are entitled to take some artistic license, even though in reality, the Tsavo Man-Eaters were maneless. Besides, I would expect actual Tsavo lions aren't readily available in captivity and, their highly aggressive disposition would make them unsuitable for taming and training purposes.

The story has also been made more dramatic and spectacular than it was in reality, making for a very thrilling movie to watch.

Another film about the man-eaters of Tsavo, made in 1952. I haven't seen it and it doesn't appear to be available on VHS or DVD. It received poor reviews when it first came out and may well have been a turkey.

"Løvejagten" (The Lion Hunters) is a silent, black and white short film (10 minutes-long) made in 1907 by the Danish producer Ole Olsen (1863-1943), the founder of Nordisk Film in Valby, Denmark, in 1906. At the time, Ole Olsen produced many other short films, made very quickly. But "Løvejagten" proved to be a phenomenal success at the time for the company.

The story is as follow: two white hunters and their black tracker progress through the jungle (the "jungle" was a forest near Copenhagen). They encounter various animals, ostriches, hippopotamuses and zebras (those scenes were in fact shot at the Copenhagen Zoo). When they set camp for the night and are asleep, they are awakened by a lion killing a young goat. The lion then kills the hunters' horse and is in turn shot by the hunters. One hunter poses besides the dead lion in front of the camera. A second lion is shot and both cats' freshly-skinned pelts are shown on camera, with the pleased hunters posing.

"Løvejagten" brought fame to Nordisk for the realism of the scenes shocked audiences and, caused a great deal of controversy because animals met genuine death in front of the camera: the two lions used in the film are killed and skinned for real. The little goat and the horse were also filmed being actually killed by the lions.
The Danish Minister of Justice, alerted by animal rights activists, put a ban on filming. But Olsen finished filming on the Island of Elleore in Roskilde Fjord, to prevent any further interference.

The news hit the headlines: Olsen was accused of animal cruelty (he was acquitted later on) and lost his license to run a cinema.
However, the film proved to be a success, sold 259 copies and was shown across the world... The income it generated allowed Nordisk to expand and to dominate the film industry until 1916. It is now considered a classic of Danish cinema and, credited for launching the film industry in Denmark.

For more information about Nordisk (now Egmont) see this link.

A boy with royal blood, whose parents have been slain by a rival clan, is raised in the wild by lions... As a grown-up, he will use his special powers to reclaim his throne and rescue a princess.
A medieval/fantasy Turkish film directed by Natuk Baytan and featuring Cüneyt Arkin (also known as Steve Arkin) as the "Lion Man".
I found this film hugely entertaining and packed with fun, in spite of or rather, because of its cheap qualities and poorly-choreographed battle scenes. A must-see if you enjoy trash movies (which I do).

"Savage Harvest" was released in 1981 and is apparently based on a true incident; however I couldn't find anything online about the incident itself, which is said to have happened in South Africa.
The story is about this family who is literally besieged in its own house in the middle of the veldt, by a pride of lions. An unprecedented drought has driven the starving lions to desperate measures in order to feed... The lions' furious and frantic efforts to get in, reach their culmination when one of them gets down the chimney! and attacks people inside the house. The mauling scenes are frighteningly realistic (I saw this film when I was a kid... maybe I was particularly impressionable at that age but still...) and the lions definitely contribute to the interest of this film, more than the performance of the human cast.
I saw this film once on VHS, a long time ago and it seems extremely difficult to find: the original VHS line has been discontinued and it hasn't been released on DVD. This film has clearly impacted greatly on many people, from the number of enquiries left online to buy copies and, it would make sense for the film/production company responsible to have it re-released on DVD.

See more information about Savage Harvest on IMDB

The first case of vegetarian lioness I read about is this lioness that fed only on milk and rice and accompanied her master Swami Krishnananda everywhere. In his book "Autobiography of a Yogi", Paramahamsa Yogananda mentions meeting Swami Krishnananda and his lioness at the Khumba Mela of 1936. Krishnananda apparently taught the lioness to growl "Aum" or "Om" the primordial and sacred sound said to be present when the universe was created and the source of all mantras.

It isn't clear if the lioness really avoided meat on her own initiative or if she was made to be vegetarian.

The other case I heard of much later and came across online is the lioness named "Little Tyke" that was born and raised in captivity and, deliberately refused to feed on meat. In spite of several attempts on her owners' part to get her to stick to a more conventional diet, Little Tyke categorically refused to consume meat and would show incredible gentleness towards other animals and people. Little Tyke lived for 9 years in fact without eating meat and seemingly thrived on a vegetarian diet which should normally have made her seriously ill and caused her death. In fact, Little Tyke's death at 9 was caused by a pneumonia and wasn't related to her diet. Little Tyke's highly unusual diet baffled the scientific community for cats need the amino acid taurine present in meat; they cannot obtain it any other way, since taurine is virtually non-existent in natural non-animal sources. It exists in very small quantities in eggs and milk and, would have required Little Tyke to eat and drink astronomical amounts of eggs and milk to get the minimum amount needed for her to stay in good health.

Read more about Little Tyke.

I presume most people are familiar with the story, which originated in Aesop's fables: Androcles, a runaway slave is approached by a wild lion. Very scared at first, he comes to realise the lion doesn't want him any harm and only requires him to remove a thorn from his paw. Androcles removes the thorn and lives for a time with the grateful lion in the wild. The two friends however are caught by the Romans separately and sent to the arenas.
Androcles is condemned to be torn to bits by wild beasts; fortunately for him, the lion is among them and, not only refuses to devour his friend but defends him against the other animals. This pleases the crowd immensely and the public asks for Androcles and the lion to be freed.

Georges Bernard Shaw wrote a play, full of humour and wit, of the same name: in his version, Androcles is a Christian among many others sent to the Collosseum to be tortured. His play was adapted into a film (that I haven't seen) in 1952.