Do lions like water?

Unlike tigers, lions are not hugely fond of water. Whereas tigers can spend long periods immersed in water to keep cool, lions do not lie in water during the day. However, they are quite capable swimmers but, once again, less so than for the tiger. 

SWIMMING LIONS OF THE OKAVANGO DELTA. Photo in public domain.

Tigers have been seen swimming in the open sea for up to 4 miles as I recall whereas lions have been recorded swimming across the Okavango and other major rivers according to CA Guggisberg in his book published in 1963: Simba: The Life of the Lion published by Chilton Books in New York.

Male lion of Okavango Delta. Photo in public domain.

There is a group of lions living near the Okavango Delta in Botswana who have perhaps learned to accept water more than lions in general. The delta covers a large area and is a unique environment where there are seasonal floods. The average water depth is about 2-2.5 feet but there are some deeper areas. The lions there avoid the very deep water but know the area well. And as mentioned they are decent or perhaps even very good swimmers.

Also, unlike the tiger, lions are not particularly good at climbing at least relative to the other wild cat species such as the leopard which is an excellent climber. The lion is primarily terrestrial which means they live on the ground! Like all wild cats, they are, however, good jumpers and have been known to jump fences 2-3 m high.

It is said that young lions are quite good climbers and quite often play in a tree and can sometimes take to branches, within a tree, to avoid dogs. I've seen a lion chasing a leopard in a tree which indicates that they are not that bad at climbing after all.

My answer to the question in the title is, no, but they don't mind water. They seem to have the mentality of domestic cats when it comes to water.

Mystery Animals Are an Expression of Our Fear

The video above is all over the Internet including screenshots from it. We are told that experts are mystified as to what species this animal is. There's lots of speculation that the animal is a mountain lion or even a lion. But this animal's shape does not resemble a mountain lion or a lion or for that matter any large wild cat species. The torso is too short for a start off.  Of course the pictures are indistinct because the images are grainy and there are strong shadows which appear to alter the shape of the animal.

My distinct impression is that people are too eager to look for a mystery where there is none and look for danger where there is none.  People are fearful of the dark and of dangerous large animals.

I believe this is a throwback to the early days of homo sapiens when indeed there were dangerous predators and when lions roamed Europe and when sabre-tooth tigers roamed North America.

I think people are hardwired with a fear of large predators and that fear leaks out of them when they see blurry images of a dog ambling down a suburban road minding his own business until the whole world starts analysing him and what the hell is. He's a dog that's what he is and to me it is rather obvious.

This particularly fearful predator was wandering around a place called Norwalk in the USA.  As mentioned, people thought it may have been a mountain lion but experts said, no, but it might be a lion. The lion is more stocky and has very strong forelegs and shoulders whereas the mountain lion is more slender so that makes sense because the animal in the video is quite stocky.

The experts figured that if it was a lion and then it might have escaped from a backyard.  Some people do like to keep lions in their backyard as exotic pets.

The video was taken with a resident's security camera. A lot of people were concerned about their pets being attacked by this mystery, monster predator lurking around their streets at night.  One guy said he might carry is firearm as protection.  A lady in her car said she couldn't understand why mountain lions were in the area because there are no mountains.

Then a large man with a large amount of common sense said he knew what the animal was: a large grey dog, a Rottweiler or a Pitbull.  That is what this animal looks like to me.

Nothing has happened in the way of a follow-up story telling us how it all ended up so I believe that we have to presume the animal was and is a large dog.

It is all about subliminal fear. We are afraid of some many things.

Suburban Lions of Kenya

The lions of Nairobi National Park have taken a fancy to the leafy suburbs and gardens of Langata which borders the park. See the map below.  The park is labelled "Mugumoini".

Picture showing the close proximity of Nairobi NP to the suburbs.
Photo by urbangarden

Quite understandably they are causing anxiety amongst the local inhabitants. Pet dogs have been eaten. "It was just bones and a bit of skin". When will the first child be taken? Stephanie Dloniak has a "lion lockdown" at dusk to protect her family. The kids are comprehensively grounded from 5:30 pm onwards. You can see her point. She photographed a lion sliding under her garden fence.


View Larger Map

It is the classic clash between human and big cat. This normally occurs when humankind gradually encroaches upon big cat territory which brings the two into conflict. Invariably the cat losses the battle in the long run. The sad truth is that this sort of thing will get worse. It has to because the human population is expanding and the lion population is deceasing in Africa. The lion is assessed as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List™. The people living in the suburbs of Nairobi are feeling vulnerable too.

In this instance, it is believed that the lions of Nairobi NP are moving out of the park because:

1. They have be socialised to the human. They are familiar with people.
2. Male lions may have forced one of the lionesses out of the park. This is because incoming males kill cubs and females sometimes defend their cubs or in this instance go elsewhere. Other females followed.
3. The gardens are attractive for prey - e.g. dogs.

When push comes to shove and trapping the lions and shipping them back to the park finally fails, the police will be compelled to shoot them. One less lion in a declining population. Sounds a bit dysfunctional doesn't it?

Cat History in Pictures

A series of pictures and accompanying words that describe some milestones in the history of the cat. We have to start at the beginning, which is the era when the cat did not exist on the planet. Of course, the first cats were wildcats and it stayed that way for millions of years until relatively recently.

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This first cat history picture shows the complete development from the animal that was the precursor to the cat, the Miacid, to a highly selectively bred purebred cat in this case a Snowshoe cat - but it could be anyone of the well established cat breeds in the picture.

The time frame from the bottom picture to the top picture is about 60,000,000 years (60m or 60 Ma).

It is believed that the genus Felis (Felis lunensis - Martelli's Cat) appeared about 12 million years ago. 2.4 million years ago the ancestor to the European wild cat appeared.

The Near-eastern wildcat or African wildcat was first domesticated about 9,500 years ago we think so you can see how relatively recent the domestic cat is. Read more on domestic cat history.

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The earliest recorded lion fossil is dated about 3.5 million years ago. The picture, left is of a lion in cave paintings from the Palaeolithic period (2.6 million years ago - 10,000 years ago).

However, the history of the big cats is not certain. It is thought by some that the lion appeared in African about 1 million years ago.

Jaguars roamed over Europe about 1.64 million years ago. See history of the big cats.

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Jumping forward to relatively modern times, the picture left shows the domestic cat in Ancient Egyptian times 1400 BC - almost 3,500 years ago.

The picture shows a slice of cat history. It appears to be of a domesticated or semi-domesticated cat, the precursor of today's Egyptian Mau purebred cat, catching a bird. It appears that the cat was trained by the person in the picture to do this. Cheetahs were also trained to hunt (16th century)

The Ancient Egyptians had a long and close relationship with the domestic cat and worshiped the cat at one time for a period of 2,000 years. The cat was first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent, which includes the Nile delta in Egypt.

Above : picture of a statue of the goddess Bastet from the temple of Queen Berenice, who was the wife of King Ptolemy III (246-222 BC). Location: Alexandria, Egypt. See post.

Bastet festivals were popular until about AD 390. People made sacrifices to the god. Cats were killed for the purpose. Were the Egyptians truly cat lovers?

It seems not. See Egyptian cat art.

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Moving to modern times, cat history now is more about the development of the cat fancy and the cat breeds.

The picture left is of a champion purebred show cat, CHAMPION FULMER ZAIDA,  of 1902. The cat fancy started not long before that in the late 1800s in England, UK. See Persian cat history. Development of new breeds has now, 2012, all but stopped.

However, the most pressing aspect of cat history for us today (2012) is not about the domestic cat but the wild cats and pressingly the demise of the tiger in the wild.

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The tiger is heading for extinction and quite rapidly as the human population expands equally rapidly.

The extinction of the tiger (and the other wildcat species) began in earnest in the mid 1800s to early 1900s when they were shot for sport or skins. Poaching of the now rare tiger for tiger body parts to supply the Chinese medicine market (see e.g. tiger bone) continues today and is the biggest threat together with habitat loss. Ironically, as the tiger becomes rarer its bones become more precious to the commercial market and thus it is more likely to be shot or poisoned and dissected for its body parts.

At that time artists had the habit of anthropomorphizing the wildcats in drawings. See Tiger for a lot more.

How fast can lions run?

ANSWER: Lions can reach a top speed of 48 to 59 kilometers per hour. That is 30 to 37 miles per hour (mph).  Lions are said to have poor stamina. They puff and pant after a fast run over 100 yards. The lion has longer limbs in relation to overall size than the tiger but it is not a specialist runner. The lion's limbs are more a weapon than as a means of transport!

At top speed and with a flying start the lion would run the 100 yards in 5.5 seconds. From a standing start the cheetah can run the 100 yards in about 6 seconds.

The speed of the lion was assessed by George Beals Schalle, an American naturalist born 1933.