Lioness, the Queen of the Jungle

Appearance: I'm pretty sure that all of you know how a lion looks like. If not, there's a huge picture of a lioness in the front page guild layout. But, here are some descriptions anyways. The lion is the tallest of the big cats and they are the second heaviest cat after the tiger. Lions are the only species of cats when you can tell the difference between a male and female lion.

Adult lion weight 330–550 lb and lioness weigh about 264–400 lb. The weights may vary due to different regions of where the lion is located and the amount of food source. From head to body length, adult lion measures 5 ft 7 in – 8 ft 2 in and in lioness, she measures 4 ft 7 in – 5 ft 9 in.

The mane of the lion is the most distinct feature of the cat. A mane is the big, fluffy fur around the lion's shoulders. The mane is very important because it makes the lion appear larger and scarier. Lioness usually prefers male lions with larger mane. Senegal in Kenya is the only place where there is maneless lions.

Social Group: Lions are the only cats who live in a social groups. There are two social groups; one is called a pride. A pride usually consists of 1 to 2 males with 5 to 6 lioness. There are also extreme prides when there are 30 lioness. The pride usually lives in a range of territory. The lion will patrol the territory to increase food supplies and to get rid of intruders. In pride, lions will often lick other lions on their head and neck. They will do head rubs just like what your cat does.

The second social group is called nomads, who moves around a lot. The nomads are usually in pairs like two males who were excluded from their birth pride. Note that nomads may become a pride some times in their life.

Hunting and diet: Lioness usually does the hunting of the pride because they are smaller and quicker. Since they don't have manes, they are more agile because the mane causes overheating during hunting. Lioness will cooperate with other lioness to bring down their prey using tactics. If it's a small prey, they will eat it by themselves. When it's a big prey, they will bring it to the pride and share. Usually, the male lion will be the first to eat and then the lioness. Sometimes when there is a prey near the male lion, he will sometimes kill the prey and then eat all of it by himself.

Although lioness can reach speeds of 81 km/h, they are not known to have stamina. They usually have short burst of speed so they usually stalk their prey nearby. When they attack their prey, they will run fast and leap on the prey from the behind. Then they will strangle their prey by their powerful jaws.

So what do lions prey on? They hunt wildebeest, impalas, zebras, buffalo, and warthogs in Africa and nilgai, wild boar, and several deer species in India. Lioness will rarely attack giraffes due to their huge size.

When food is scarce such as in the Savuti river, they will attack elephants during the night. Elephants have poor night vision. It can take about 30 lionesses to bring down one adult elephant.

Lions are capable of bringing down cheetahs, wild dogs, leopards, and hyenas. It is rare that lions will eat them afterwards.

Health: Lions don't have natural predators. They mostly die from humans and other lions. Male lions can live about 15 to 16 years, but majority die when they are less than 10 years old. Lions can live up to 20 years when they are in zoos or carefully watched in national parks. As we all know, lions are slowly in decline in Asia and Africa. More than 50& of lion population have been lost.

Man-eating Lion Usually lions don't attack or prey on humans because humans are boney. However, a lion may hunt humans because loss of food due to habitat loss. Most man-eating lion is usually a male lion. There is a theory that lion may hunt humans due to tooth decay. Since it's harder to hunt gazelles or impalas due to tooth problem, lions may end up hunting humans because they're easier target.

You may notice why I wrote "lioness" is the queen of the jungle instead of lion? This is because I think that lioness deserves more credit than a lion. The lioness does all the hunting and taking care of the cubs; whiles the lions, all they do is get big and patrol territory by marking scent all over the floor.

Cat Astrology

March 20 - April 19

Aries Cat : The Energetic Cat

These cats don't want to spend their afternoon being "stroked". These big cats want to play and play. I have an Aries cat and my cat dislike being petted during the day. Not that these cats are "unpettable", but they only want to be stroked on a certain time. For example, my cat doesn't mind if I pet her when she's asleep.

In addition, Aries cat are possessive and will do anything to protect his or her territory. It is best to keep at bird and fishes safe before they might go missing.

April 19 - May 20

Taurus Cat : The Fat Cat

Well, these cats are easier to take care of because they are laid-back. They will sleep majority of the time. These cats won't catch mice by the way or bring any presents to you.

May 20 - June 21

GEMINI CAT: The Silly Intelligent Kitten

Comic of the Month

RIP Cats

June 18, 2010

I Hate Mops

April 6, 2010

I Hate Sick Humans

March 2, 2010

Magic Mouse

February 2010

Yuck, Valentines Day

January 2010

New years Resolution

1. I will catch another mouse! I know they're everywhere in the house! If only, I can get my claws on them!
2. I will climb on top of the dinner table more often. There are so many table scraps I could eat. My humans love to throw food in this bin, but they never give them to me.
3. I will never sniff an orange peel. Enough said.
4. I will not get near my human's candle.
5. I will not go outside when it is raining.
6. I will exercise more by napping.
7. When I step on top on the phone, I will not accidentally called 911.
8. I will not catch ants.
9. I will resist cat nip.
10. I will not step inside the human's litterbox. I won't go into details about what happened.
11. I will not get near the printer when a paper flies out.
12. I will not run into the door.
13. I will respect my humans more by giving them more presents. I'm sure they won't mind a dead mouse on their bed.

Famous cat lovers

1. Abraham Lincoln: An American president who had a tabby. He is the one the first president who brought a cat to the White House. Impressive?
2. Ernest Hemingway: A writer who has about 30 cats who has a gene for six-toed cat.
3. Nostradamus: A prophet who has a cat named Grimalkin. He may have predicted the 9/11 attack and WW II.
4.T.S. Elliot: a famous poet who published a book Old Possum's Book of Practical .
5. Albert Einstein: The intelligent scientist who had a tomcat named Tiger. Tiger usually becomes sad when it rains.
6. Sir Isaac Newton: Another intelligent scientist who invented the cat-flap.
7. Florence Nightingale: A nurse during wartime who owned more than 60 cats in her life time. She has a large Persian named "Bismarck".
8. Edgar Allan Poe: When I first read the short story "Black Cat", I thought he was a cat hater. It turns out that he is a cat lover who had a tortoiseshell cat names Catarina. Catarina was an inspiration for his short story because she will often curled by his sick wife.
9. Harriet Beecher Stowe: An author who had a large Maltese cat called Calvin. Calvin will often sit on her shoulder as she writes.
10. Mark Twain or Samuel Clemens: Twain had 11 cats and he often makes quotes about them. He once lost a cat named Bambino for a day and a half.

Lolcat

Cat Talk

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