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Lions
Lions
Lion-king-disneyscreencaps.com-262
Physical characteristics
Hair color

Black, brown, cream, orange, and red

Eye color

Black, blue, green, purple, red, and yellow

Distinctions

   Claws
   Manes (males)

Sociocultural characteristics
Habitat

   Jungle
   Savanna

Dominions

   Pride Lands
   Tree of Life
   Hakuna Matata (formerly)
   Outlands (formerly)

Diet

   Antelope
   Grubs
   Hippopotamuses
   Zebras

Notable members

   Simba
   Nala
   Mufasa
   Sarabi
   Scar
   Kiara
   Kion
   Zira
   Kovu
   Nuka
   Vitani
   Rani

Pumbaa, are you nuts?! We're talking about a lion. Lions eat guys like us!
Timon[src]

Lions are a species of animal native to the Pride Lands, the Outlands, and the Tree of Life. They serve as monarchs in both dominions.

Physical characteristics[]

Physically, lions are a tawny golden color, and are the only cats whose sexes can be told apart at a distance. Males bear thick, shaggy manes of either blond, black, red, or brown, while lionesses are barren around the neck. Both sexes have a tail tuft, always black in color, though cubs are born without this tuft. Lion eyes are most commonly amber, but brown-eyed, green-eyed, red-eyed, and blue-eyed lions have been observed.

Information[]

In the universe[]

The lions in the film series look and behave markedly different from actual lions. The Pride Landers are the main group of lions featured throughout the franchise, though other prides such as the Outsiders have been lightly touched upon.

Universe Pride

Simba's pride, the primary pride of lions in the franchise

The Pride Landers operate in a monarchy system, where the firstborn child of the current ruler serves as the crown prince or princess. This child is anointed, then presented before the animals of the kingdom in a ceremony that occurs at dawn. Sometime after, the ruler-to-be is assigned a lion or lioness whom they will marry upon reaching adulthood, though this tradition appears to have been broken with Kiara.

Though hyenas are their sworn enemies and portrayed as such in most material, lions have been known to conspire with them. Scar maintained a friendship with Shenzi's clan from young adulthood to late adulthood, as well as his great-nephew Kion, who befriended a hyena, Jasiri and her clan.

True to their species, lions have rival prides, as seen with the Outsiders and Pride Landers. Power can be stolen through usurpation, as seen with Scar.

Trivia[]

  • In the first movie, hyenas take on both lions and lionesses. In reality, hyenas only mob lionesses if there is a three- or four-to-one advantage. However, male lions are avoided at all costs. Even if the hyenas outnumber a male twenty-to-one, the hyenas will give him a wide berth.[1] Although, there is a known case of twenty hyenas attacking a male lion when he entered their territory.[2]
  • In The Lion King universe, only the male lions have whiskers, while the lionesses have none.
    • According to the animators, a single whisker had to be drawn on a separate piece of paper, making it extremely difficult to animate them on several characters. As a result, only the male lions were given whiskers.

References[]

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