FELID.-E 509 



he resides buffaloes, antelopes, zebras, giraffes, or even young 

 elephants or rhinoceroses, though the adults of these latter he dare 

 not attack. In cultivated districts the cattle, sheep, and even human 

 inhabitants are never safe from his nocturnal ravages. He appears, 

 however, as a general rule, only to kill when hungry or attacked, 

 and not for the mere pleasure of killing, as with some other car- 

 nivorous animals. Moreover, he by no means limits himself to 

 animals of his own killing, but, according to Selous, often prefers 

 eating game that has been killed by man, even when not very fresh, 

 to taking the trouble to catch an animal himself. All books of 

 African travel and sport abound with stories, many of which are 

 apparently well authenticated, of the lion's prodigious strength, as 

 exemplified by his being able to drag off a whole ox in his mouth 

 to a long distance, even leaping fences and dykes with it. 



The Lion appears to be monogamous, a single male and female 

 continuing attached to each other irrespectively of the pairing 

 season. At all events the Lion remains with the Lioness while the 

 cubs are young and helpless, and assists in providing her and them 

 with food, and in educating them in the art of providing for them- 

 selves. The number of cubs at a birth is from two to four, usually 

 three. They are said to remain with their parents till they are 

 about three years old. The following account by an eye-Avitness 

 gives a good idea of Lion family life x : 



"I once had the pleasure of, unobserved myself, watching a 

 lion family feeding. I was encamped on the Black Umfolosi in 

 Zululand, and towards evening, walking out, about half a mile 

 from camp, I saw a herd of zebra galloping across me, and when 

 they were nearly 200 yards off, I saw a yellow body flash towards 

 the leader, and saw him fall beneath the lion's weight. There 

 was a tall tree about 60 yards from the place, and anxious to see 

 what went on, I stalked up to it, while the lion was still too much 

 occupied to look about him, and climbed up. He had by this time 

 quite killed the beautifully striped animal, but instead of proceed- 

 ing to eat it, he got up and roared vigorously, until there was an 

 answer, and in a few minutes a lioness, accompanied by four 

 whelps, came trotting up from the same direction as the zebra, 

 which no doubt she had been to drive towards her husband. 

 They formed a fine picture as they all stood round the carcase, 

 the whelps tearing it and biting it, but unable to get through the 

 tough skin. Then the lion lay down, and the lioness driving her 

 offspring before her did the same four or five yards off, upon which 

 he got up, and, commencing to eat, had soon finished a hind leg, 

 retiring a few yards on one side as soon as he had done so. The 

 lioness came up next and tore the carcase to shreds, bolting huge 



1 Hon. W. H. Druminond, The Large Game and Natural History of South 

 and South-East Africa, 1875, p. 278. 



