Species guide

African Lion

Panthera leo

Descriptive notes. Head-body 172 - 250 cm (males), 158 - 192 cm (females), tail 61 - 100 cm. Shoulder height 107 - 123 cm; weight 190 (150 - 225 kg; record 272 kg) for males, and 126 (122 - 192 kg) for females. The Lions of the Asian subspecies persica are in general smaller. Brown amber to clear cream-colored iris. Eyes edged with white underneath. Coat of adults is generally a uniform sandy or tawny on the upperparts and flanks and white on the underparts. Some adults retain the rosettes and spots characteristic of young lions to a lesser or greater degree, even into their later years. Backs of rounded ears are black, tail is just over half the length of head and body, with well-developed tuft of long tawny to black hairs on the tip concealing a horny spur. Melanistic forms are extremely rare, very pale individuals known from Kaokoland, Namibia, and south-west Botswana. Some nearly whi

Recorded 18,533 times in the wild worldwide.