Female Lion

FEMALE LIONS

Female lions are the primary hunters of the group. They are smaller and more agile than males. But since their prey is still generally faster than them, they use teamwork to bring an animal down. Fanning out, they form a semicircle, with the smaller, weaker lionesses herding the prey towards the center. Then the stronger females knock the animal down and make the kill.


BASIC INFORMATION

Males and females take on very different roles in the pride. Male lions spend their time guarding their territory and their cubs. They maintain the boundaries of their territory, which can be as large as 260 sq. km (100 sq. mi.), by roaring, marking it with urine, and chasing off intruders. Their thick manes, a unique trait to male lions, protect their necks when they fight with challengers.

BASIC INFORMATION OF LION

King of the Jungle

Lions defend their territory, by urinating to mark the area.They roar to promote the fear. They do fight and steal each other's food.They dominate and promote fear in other animals, such as cheetahs and leopards, so that they do not pray the same time that lions do.

Basically, lions show their affection by head rubbing and licking. They are mostly known for their ferocious roar. Including this, they also do meowing, woofing, purring, coughing and hissing.

ABOUT LION CUBS

When it is time to give birth a lioness leaves her pride and has her lion cubs in dense cover. Cubs remain hidden for one to two months before being introduced to the rest of the pride.

Lion Cubs

Lions babysit each other's cubs too, which demonstrates the amount of care and respect they have. Lions are quite possibly one of the most fascinating creatures in the world. 

FACTS ABOUT LIONS

LIONS FACTS

Lions consume a wide variety of prey, from wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, Buffalo and wild hogs to sometimes rhinos and hippos. This is a common fact how lions takeover their diet. Lions are also known to attacked elephants when food is scarce.

According to the population of lion, The lion population in Africa has been reduced by half since the early 1950s. Today, fewer than 21,000 remain in all of Africa.


BEHAVIOR

Lions within a pride are often affectionate and, when resting, seem to enjoy good fellowship with lots of touching, head rubbing, licking and purring. The males are territorial and will roar and use scent markings to establish their domains. Females do more hunting comparing to male, They are mainly nocturnal and work in teams to stalk and ambush prey. Lions inhabit grassy plains, savannahs, open woodlands and scrub country. 


RANGE

Lions are mostly found only in south Sahara desert and in part of southern and eastern Africa. Go back to the history, lions were found from Greece through the middle east to northern India.


REPRODUCTION

Lions are able to reproduce by the time they are four. 110-119 days are their gestation period. Females lions can give birth to about four cubs, which are blind at birth.
Mating Season: Throughout the year.
Gestation: Around 110 days.
Litter size: 3-4 cubs.

GRIZZLY BEAR

Grizzly Bear

Grizzly bears are specially adapted to survive the changing seasons. During warmer months, they eat a massive amount of food so they can live off body fat during the winter when food is scarce. They may intake 40 kg of food each day, gaining over 1 kg (2.2 lbs.) of body weight a day. As omnivores, grizzlies will eat anything nutritious they can find, gorging on nuts, fruit, leaves, roots, fungi, insects, and a variety of animals including salmon and other fish, rodents, sheep, and elk. Their diet varies depending on what foods are available for the season.

In the fall, as temperatures cool and food becomes scarcer, grizzlies dig dens in the sides of hills. They have long rounded claws (the size of human fingers) and a large mass of muscles on their backs that help them dig. These characteristics, along with small rounded ears and white-tipped fur, distinguish grizzly bears from black bears.They have a multitude of strengths. They are highly intelligent and have excellent memories. Detecting food from great distances away, grizzlies have an astute sense of smell, even better than that of a hound dog.They are good swimmers and fast runners, reaching speeds as high as 50 km/h (35 mph) over land. Young grizzlies also have the ability to climb trees to evade danger, but this skill fades as they become bigger.

GRIZZLY BEAR EVOLUTION

The evolution process of the Grizzly Bear is still relatively unknown. They are believed to have traveled to North America approximately 50,000 years ago.  They are subspecies of the Brown Bear and it is believed that due to environmental changes the Grizzly Bear ended up in the higher parts of North America. In order to survive, it had to develop a different type of coat as well as the hump on the back to help it have the strength necessary for survival.

BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF GRIZZLY BEAR

Grizzly bears are among the largest land carnivores in the world. The heaviest recorded grizzly was 1496 pounds (Brown, 1993).Grizzlies grow to an average size of 6-7 feet when standing up and 3-4 feet to the top of their shoulders when on all fours. Grizzlies are avid swimmers and very fast runners, reaching speeds of up to 56km/h (35mph) in a sprint. Like most other bears, grizzlies have short, stubby tails.

Fur

• The fur of a grizzly bear can be anywhere from a cream color to a nearly black, dark brown coat (Brown, 1993)
• Cubs usually have a lighter coat
• The tips of their fur are white or silver which gives them a grizzled look, and led to their name, the grizzly bear
• Their pelt is highly insulating and protects bears from insects and the environment
• Their color helps grizzly bears blend in with their surroundings to avoid enemies and remain unknown to prey

Teeth

• Grizzly bears have 42 teeth (Brown, 1993)
• Several longer, sharp teeth are located towards the front of their mouth for tearing meat
• As they are omnivores, they have large, flat molars used for grinding
• Cubs begin losing their juvenile teeth at 5-6 months of age and have a full set of adult teeth at 1.5 years old.

Head

• Large head in relation to body size↔
• Skull length ranges from 30-40 cm
• Cubs have nearly round heads, which lengthen and change shape as they reach sexual maturity to assume the adult structure.
• Adults have a forehead with a steep slope leading into a long muzzle, giving them a concave or dish-shaped skull (Brown, 1993)
• Very wide nasal opening

Lifespan

• Grizzlies in the wild live to an average of 25 years, which is close to the life expectancy of most other bear species
• The oldest grizzly found in the wild was an Alaskan bear of 35 years

Sensory Function

• Excellent sense of smell is their main tool for detecting and locating food as well as evading conflict
• Short, round ears provide good hearing which is helpful in locating prey (French and French, 1989)
• Their eyes are forward, tiny and closely spaced
• Eyesight is generally thought to be poor and comparable to that of humans

BASIC FACTS ABOUT GRIZZLY BEARS

Grizzly bears have concave faces, a distinctive hump on their shoulders, and long claws about two to four inches long. Both the hump and the claws are traits associated with a grizzly bear’s exceptional digging ability. Grizzlies are often dark brown but can vary from very light cream to black. The long guard hairs on their backs and shoulders frequently have white tips and give the bears a "grizzled" appearance, hence the name "grizzly." The correct scientific name for the species is “brown bear,” but only coastal bears in Alaska and Canada are referred to as such, while inland bears and those found in the lower 48 states are called grizzly bears.

Grizzly bears are one of the slowest reproducing land mammals. Females do not typically reproduce until they are four or five years old. Grizzly bears mate between May and July, but the female’s body delays implantation of their eggs in the uterus until October or November. If the female has not gained enough fat over the summer to survive and raise cubs, implantation may not occur. A grizzly’s ability to garner enough quality calories through the summer is not just crucial for her survival, but also for her reproductive ability.

GRIZZLY BEAR

 GRIZZLY bear

GRIZZLY BEAR FACTS AND INFORMATION

When you think of bears in general, it may be the well known Grizzly Bear that you have a vision of. They are among the largest of all bears in the world so they definitely get their share of attention. Many early documentaries in the wild also covered this particular species so people are able to recognize them easier than when it comes to a variety of other species. However, they are quite often mistaken with other subspecies of Brown Bears due to the similarities in their features.

Grizzly Bear males can grow to be about 6.5-8 feet tall. The females are about 4-6 feet so there is quite a bit of difference between them as full-grown adults. Males can reach weights of about 400-800 pounds, with extreme cases up to 1500 pounds, while females are often around 290-440 pounds.

Class	Mammalia
Order	Carnivora
Family	Ursidae
Genus	Ursus
Conservation status	Least Concern

Grizzly Bears are brown in color but the shade of it can range from golden brown to a chocolate brown. The older bears will start to get white on the tips of their coat.

   GRIZZLY BEAR anatomy

The hump on the back of them is where they get their power and strength from. This is actually a muscle and this allows them to drag large animals they have killed great distances with ease. The nonretractile claws can be about four inches in length. They are powerful and allow them to dig, to break open eggshells, and to kill their prey.

Wildlife photography is a loosely-defined profession which demands a passion for nature and art. Wildlife photographers make a career of traveling to remote areas and taking pictures of wild animals and natural scenery.