In the company of Lions: lions and men

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)

A reconstruction of the American Lion

A cute, cartoon, colourful family scene, a peaceful pride of lions relaxing under a tree in the bush... Ideal for a child/children's bedroom or playroom. Fully customizable, the illustration itself is gigantic, so in this way available in a variety of printing sizes, from small to very big. Available framed or unframed.




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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

Cute Cartoon White Lions T-shirt: available on a variety of clothing items and fully customizable.

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

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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?

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Otherwise lots of other products involving cartoon lions: see the Cartoon Big Cats section of my Cheerful Madness!! online shop

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.

This is an essay I wrote about my own appreciation of how the lioness has been perceived and represented, in comparison to the lion. Her notorious partner is seemingly made more of a fuss of than the poor lioness who ended up being relegated in his shadow... I wanted to study and analyze why, especially since it appears it hasn't always been the case. Thank you for reading.

The Lion's Wife

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.

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This was a serie I enjoyed watching as a kid; Goliath the lion had super-strength, could fly and emit laser beams from his eyes
I think I was also impressed by the lion's extremely fearsome appearance (somewhat unusual for a character meant to be on the side of Good)

You can see model sheets of Samson and Goliath here, as well as a historic of the serie:

The Young Samson and Goliath FAQ

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.

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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.

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Edgar Rice Burroughs is best known for being the creator of "Tarzan The Ape-Man" : but he also gives a particular place to lions throughout his work, not only in "Tarzan" but also in his science fiction series of books. The lion, as an enemy and sometimes as an ally, features virtually in almost every serie of books Edgar Rice Burroughs has written.

In the "Mars" serie, John Carter has to face the fearsome indigenous variety of lion known as "Banth" whose most striking feature is its ten legs!

In the "Venus" serie, the Tharban is a ferocious red-coated lion with lengthwise white stripes and a horse-like mane.

The "Ta-Ho", a gigantic type of cave lion, appears in the "Pellucidar" serie: some have been domesticated and are kept as pets by the Gilak tribe.

Lions also appear in his "Poloda" serie: they are relatively similar to lions on Earth, only they are bigger and striped like zebras.

Getting back to Tarzan, lions are primarily the traditional enemies of the ape-man and his adoptive tribe: since his childhood, Sabor the Lioness (that was initially thought as a tiger by Burroughs before he realised tigers don't live in Africa!) is the long-time fiend of Tarzan until he finally kills her as he reaches manhood.
He frequently fights and kills lions (known collectively as Numa, as the apes call them) throughout his adventures: in "The Return of Tarzan"(1913), he notably dispatches an enormous and fierce black lion known as El Adrea.

However, in "The Golden Lion"(1923) Tarzan takes pity on a tiny lion cub and raises it to adulthood: the now huge black-maned lion named Jad-Bal-Ja becomes a faithful ally and will re-appear throughout the Tarzan serie, saving his master's life on many occasions.

If lions are recurrent in Burroughs's work, "Tarzan and the City of Gold" is virtually lion-centric in its settings. The inhabitants'life is entwined with the lions they worship and use for war and hunting: the tyrannical queen Nemone has a quasi fusional relationship with her lion Belthar (recognisable by the streak of white hair in his mane), a vicious beast she uses to put to death those she disfavours...
Tarzan and Nemone's ambiguous relationship and sexually-charged antagonism is the main plot of the book until the tragic ending, involving Jad-Bal-Ja's unexpected and spectacular intervention.

"The Lad and the Lion" (1938) is yet another book by Burroughs featuring the special relationship between a young man and a lion through their tribulations and adventures.

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).

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"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

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An amusing incident involving an affectionate male lion and a lioness who doesn't wish to be disturbed during her nap Those animals are kept in a zoo in Jordan.



Read the full article here:
You're in my sun! Lion gets clawed across the face after he disturbs sunbathing lioness

From berro.com

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.

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Amazing pictures of man swimming with lioness- Article in Metro





Don't try this at home though... Lions are enormously powerful animals and can hurt you in a serious way without even meaning to do so.

Big cats don't make good pets: they are very strong and virtually unpredictable... In these two videos below, two "tamed" lions attack without any warning: it is not clear whether they did so in earnest or only wanted to play. Notice how the handlers, in both cases, fail to control their animals.

Another attack by a lion used to close proximity to human beings and said to be 'tame': again it is claimed the lion only wanted 'to play'.

I don't condone the use of animals in circuses and I am actually concerned about this stunt as lions aren't primarily designed to leap while carrying an adult man on their back...
This turn has been photographed and documented in a circus in St Petersburg, Russia.

Read the article published in the Mail Online:
The man who flies lion air: Narnia-style circus duo's amazing performance

Traditionally, lion and tiger are seen in folklore as fighting for the title of "King of Beasts" when in reality, lion and tiger's chances to meet and fight in the wild are very slim, not to say non-existent.... And the bias for the lion was overwhelmingly strong in relation to what this animal came to represent, as shown in the text in french, presented below.

For a long time, the lion was thought to be more powerful than the tiger. Besides, the lion was associated with a legitimate form of government, fierce but fair and measured, while the tiger, deprived of power by the lion, used its strength in a disorderly and cruel way. Needless to say, the symbolic and even anthropomorphic values attributed to animals at the time and before, were not connected to reality in any way.

The following excerpt in French is from Nicolas Gouin Dufief's book Nature Displayed in Her Mode of Teaching Language to Man. Nicolas Gouin Dufief was a French man who fled France at the time of the Revolution and, settled in Philadelphia where he ran a bookshop part time.

Le Lion et le Tigre.
Dans la classe des animaux carnassiers, le lion est le premier, le tigre
est le second ; et comme le premier, même dans un mauvais genre,
est toujours le plus grand et souvent le meilleur; le second est ordinairement
le plus méchant de tous. A la fierté, au courage, à la
force, le lion joint la noblesse, la clémence, la magnanimité, tandis que
le tigre est bassement féroce, cruel sans justice, c'est-à-dire sans nécessité.
Il en est de même dans tout ordre de choses où les rangs
sont donnés par la force ; le premier qui peut tout est moins tyran que
l'autre, qui ne pouvant jouir de la puissance plénière, s'en venge en
abusant du pouvoir qu'il a pu s'arroger. Aussi le tigre est-il plus à
craindre que le lion ; celui-ci souvent oublie qu'il est le roi, c'est-à-
dire, le plus fort de tous les animaux ; marchant d'un pas tranquille, il
n'attaque jamais l'homme, à moins qu'il ne soit provoqué ; il ne précipite
ses pas, il ne court, il ne chasse que quand la faim le presse. Le
tigre, au contraire, quoique rassasié de chair, semble toujours être altéré
de sang: sa fureur n'a d'autres intervalles que ceux du temps
qu'il faut pour dresser des embûches; il saisit et déchire une nouvelle
proie avec la même rage qu'il vient d'exercer, et non pas d'assouvir,
en dévorant la première ; il désole le pays qu'il habite ; il ne craint ni
l'aspect, ni les armes de l'homme ; il égorge, il dévaste les troupeaux
d'animaux domestiques; met à mort toutes les bêtes sauvages, attaque
les petits éléphants, les jeunes rhinocéros, et quelquefois même ose braver
le lion.
La forme du corps est ordinairement d'accord avec le naturel. Le
lion a l'air noble : la hauteur de ses jambes est proportionnée à la longueur
de son corps, l'épaisse et grande crinière qui couvre ses épaules
et ombrage sa face, son regard assuré, sa démarche grave, tout semble
annoncer sa fière et majestueuse intrépidité. Le tigre, trop long de corps,
trop bas sur ses jambes, la tête nue, les yeux hagards, la langue couleur
de sang, toujours hors de la gueule, n'a que les caractères de la basse
méchanceté et de l'insatiable cruauté; il n'a pour tout instinct qu'une
rage constante, une fureur aveugle, qui ne connaît, qui ne distingue rien,
et qui lui fait souvent dévorer ses propres enfants, et déchirer leur mère,
lorsqu'elle veut les défendre. Que ne l'eût-il à l'excès cette soif de son
sang! ne pût-il l 'éteindre qu'en détruisant, dès leur naissance, la race
entière des monstres qu'il produit.

from Nature Displayed in Her Mode of Teaching Language to Man By Nicolas Gouin Dufief

Conflicts between lions and tigers are deemed extremely unlikely in the wild for each specie inhabits different environments. It had been suggested that lions in India had been forced to retreat to the Gir Forest by tigers encroaching on their habitat and driving them out. It is understood now that lions have full control of areas they favour: Gir is a semi-arid environment, while tigers preferably live in jungles... The main reason of the lion's decline in India is the persecution it suffered at the hands of hunters.
Lions have gone out the Gir reserve in recent years but haven't collided with tigers as yet.

Staged fights pitting lions and tigers have shown unconclusive results: it seems clear that each individual animal's age, built, temperament and even subspecie type had a part to play in the outcome of the fight. And staged fights are held in pits, cages, or even arenas (as in the Roman Circus) which are unnatural settings by excellence. As with any staged fight, the outcome can also be made up: one of the animals can be partly incapacitated or weakened to favour its opponent and assure its victory... In those conditions, it seems doubtful they are a reflection of how a lion vs tiger fight and its outcome would turn out to be in the wild.

To my knowledge, lion versus tiger fights have never been observed in the wild, in a natural environment and between authentically wild animals rather than cats kept in captivity.

Staged fights are cruel and don't demonstrate anything, apart from providing a sick form of entertainment: virulent debates are still raging even nowadays, particularly online, between so-called lion and tiger supporters .

Battle of Beasts

As a curiosity, Battle of Beasts, a North-Korean film seemingly made during the 60s (?), shows various staged animal fights to serve propaganda, among which a fight between a tiger and a lioness in a cage (presumably at the zoo). Koreans also experimented and it has been rumoured that some male lions were shaven before being pitted against tigers so the animal shown in this film could well be a shaven lion instead of a lioness: deprived of its mane, the lion wouldn't look as scary to the tiger, making the latter more eager to attack.

North Korea being a very secretive country, there is very little information available about this film. However it is visible in parts on Dailymotion. Beware: some of the scenes are very graphic. While the cruelty involved in the making of this film is obvious, it should be approached and seen as a piece of cinematographic history.

The first part is visible here

The extinct carnivorous creature dubbed "marsupial lion" wasn't related to the eutherian (placental) lion in any way: believed to be related either to wombats or to possums, Thylacoleo carnifex's nickname refers to its large size and status of apex predator in Ice Age Australia. Its powerful built and teeth put it in a different league from the extant placental lion and, the appearance of the living animal must have been quite unique... It has also been suggested it must have hunted and killed its preys in a very different way.
I found a number of articles online discussing and analysing the characteristics of this animal in more details.

Move over, saber-tooth...

Marsupial lion tops African lion in fight to death

Who was Thylacoleo carnifex?

Last but not least, probably the best marsupial lion ressource on the Net:
Thylacoleo- Australia's marsupial lion

All you've ever wanted to know about this much-covered and parodied song and its origins.
Bob Shannon's Behind The Hits: Stories: The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The song's original creator, Solomon Linda, never got a penny out of it...

Barong:

Barong is a character in the mythology of Bali. He is the king of the spirits, leader of the hosts of good, and enemy of Rangda in the mythological traditions of Bali. Banas Pati Rajah is the fourth "brother" or spirit child that accompanies a child throughout life. Banas Pati Rajah is the spirit which animates Barong. A protector spirit, he is often represented by a lion, and traditional performances of his struggles against Rangda are popular parts of Balinese culture.

The lion barong is one of five traditional Barong. In Bali each region of the island has its own protective spirit for its forests and lands. Each Barong for each region is modeled after a different animal. There is a boar, a tiger, a dragon (or serpent) and the traditional lion. The lion is the popular one as it comes from the Gianyar region where Ubud (the home of tourist viewed ritual) is located. Within the calonarong, the dance drama in which the Barong appears, the barong responds to Rangda's use of magic to control and kill her to restore balance.

Anhur:
In early Egyptian mythology, Anhur (also spelled Onuris, Onouris, An-Her, Anhuret, Han-Her, Inhert) was originally a foreign god of war, who started being worshipped in the Egyptian area of Abydos, and particularly in Thinis, during the 11th dynasty. Myths told that he had brought his wife, Menhit, who was his female counterpart, from Nubia, and his name reflects this - it means (one who) leads back the distant one.[1]

One of his titles was Slayer of Enemies. Anhur was depicted as a bearded man wearing a robe and a headdress with four feathers, holding a spear or lance, or occasionally as a lion-headed god (representing strength and power). In some depictions, the robe was more similar to a kilt.

Due to his position as a war god, he was patron of the ancient Egyptian army, and the personification of royal warriors. Indeed, at festivals honoring him, mock battles were staged. During the Roman Era the Emperor Tiberius was depicted on the walls of Egyptian temples wearing the distinctive four-plumed crown of Anhur.

Because Anhur's name also could mean Sky Bearer, and due to the shared headdress, Anhur was later identified as Shu, becoming Anhur-Shu. Since Anhur was the more popular and significant deity, and, indeed, Shu was more a concept than a god, Shu was eventually absorbed completely into Anhur.

In the New Kingdom, his popularity increased and Anhur was also titled Saviour, becoming to the people their deliverer from human burden, due to their view of war as their source of freedom and victory. The aspects of war, and saviour, shared with Horus, contributed to Anhur's eventual identification with the much greater Horus. During the Egyptian period of dominance over Nubia, the Kushites named Horus-Anhur as Arensnuphis (also Arsnuphis, Harensnuphis), Ari-hes-nefer in Egyptian, meaning something along the lines of Horus of the beautiful house. Consequently once Osiris became identified as an aspect of Horus (and vice-versa), Arensnuphis was viewed as having Isis as his wife.

Mahes:
Maahes (also spelled Mihos, Miysis, Mios, Maihes, and Mahes) was an ancient Egyptian lion-headed god of war,[1] whose name means "he who is true beside her". He was seen as a lion prince, the son of the goddess Bast in Lower Egypt and of Sekhmet in Upper Egypt and shared their natures. His father varied according to the current chief male deity of the time and region. He was a deity associated with war and weather, and was considered the protector of matrilineality and of the high priests of Ammon, as well as that of knives, lotuses, and devouring captives. His cult was centred in Taremu and Per-Bast.
Origin

He is first mentioned in the New Kingdom, and some Egyptologists have suggested that Maahes was of foreign origin; [2] indeed there is some evidence that he may have been identical with the lion-god Apedemak worshipped in Nubia and Egypt's Western Desert.

As a lion-god and patron, he was considered the son of Rê and Bast,[3] the feline war goddess and patron of Lower Egypt, or of Sekhmet, the lioness war goddess and patron of Upper Egypt. Since his cult was centred in Per-Bast (Bubastis in Greek) or in Taremu (Leontopolis in Greek), he was more usually the son of Bast. As he became a tutelary deity of Egypt, his father was said to be the chief male deity at the time - either Ptah, or Ra who had by this time already merged with Atum into Atum-Ra. In his role of son of Ra, Maahes fought the serpent Apep during Ra's daily night voyage.

Considered to have powerful attributes, feline deities were associated with the pharaohs, and became patrons of Egypt. The male lion hieroglyphic was used in words such as "prince", "mashead", "strength", and "power".

He was also known as "the lion egyptian headed god of war".

[edit] Name

His name begins with the hieroglyphs for the male lion, although in isolation it also means (one who can) see in front. However, the first glyph also is part of the glyph for Ma'at, meaning truth and order and so it came to be that Maahes was considered to be the devourer of the guilty and protector of the innocent. Some of the titles of Maahes were Lord of Slaughter,[4] Wielder of the Knife, and The Scarlet Lord. Maahes was rarely called by his name and came to be referred to, somewhat misleadingly, as "Lord of Slaughter." The "Lord of Slaughter" terminology was adopted during the Persian and later Roman periods when foreign conquerors met with fierce resistance from Maahes chiefs and their supporters. Cambyses ill-fated army which intended to destroy the Maahes Caste and their High Priest of Amen, the Oracle at Siwa, vanished in the desert during a sudden sand storm. The Maahes were known as Lord of the Storm and Lord of the Powerful KA in reference to legends giving them powers to control the weather.

Depictions

He was pictured as a man with the head of a male lion, occasionally holding a knife and wearing the double crown of Egypt, or the atef crown. [5] Sometimes Maahes was identified with Nefertem[6] and was shown with a bouquet of lotuses near him, but he also was depicted as a lion devouring a captive.

[edit] Sacred animals

Tame lions were kept in a temple dedicated to Maahes in Taremu, where Bast and Sekhmet were worshipped, his temple was adjacent to that of Bast. [7] The ancient Greek historian Aelian wrote: "In Egypt, they worship lions, and there is a city called after them. (...) The lions have temples and numerous spaces in which to roam; the flesh of oxen is supplied to them daily (...) and the lions eat to the accompaniment of song in the Egyptian language", thus the Greek name of the city [[Leontopolis]] was derived.

* Cybele, mother goddess of Phrygia, drives a chariot drawn by lions. Cybele also changed the lovers Hippomenes and Atalanta into lions.
* Heracles (Hercules) strangled the Nemean Lion as one of his labours.
* The Roman goddess Juno drives a chariot pulled by lions.
* In Tibet, the lioness was an attribute of Tara.
* In Hinduism, the fourth avatar of Vishnu is a lion and represents Durga.
* Buddhism calls the lion the Defender of the Law, and Buddha, the "Lion of the Shakya," is sometimes seated on a lion throne.
* The Chinese immortal Chiu-shou was a lion that took human form and fought in their wars.
* Mari-Jata, founder of the Mali empire, was called "the Lion of Mali."