Species Information

Lions

Life Cycle

Pregnancy and Birth

Lionesses are pregnant for 105-110 days. They usually give birth to 2-4 cubs in hidden dens away from the pride. Lionesses sever the umbilical cords with their teeth and clean the birthing fluid from their cubs with their tongues. A lioness' first litter usually only has 2 or 3 cubs, and subsequent litters may have more.

Threats
Lion cubs are threatened by pretty much everything: other predators, including leopards, hyenas, and jackals, birds of prey like eagles, and even large herbivores like elephants and buffalo.

Development

Days 0-3
Cubs are born blind and completely helpless, relying on their mother for protection and nourishment.

Days 4-11
Eyes open and are blue, but vision is blurry for another week.

Days 10-15
Cubs begin to walk.

Days 21-30
Milk teeth start coming in, first the canines then the back teeth.

Days 25-30
Cubs can run.

Months 1-2
Cubs leave the den with the mother and are introduced to the rest of the pride. Lionesses share the responsibility of suckling the cubs. Cubs can make all sounds but roaring.

Months 2-3
Cubs can watch hunts, and weaning begins; cubs still drink milk but begin to eat solid food. Eyes change to their adult color.

Months 6-10
Cubs are fully weaned but still dependent on their mother until 16 months of age.

Months 9-12
Permanent teeth start coming in and take several months to finish. Cubs begin partaking in hunts, but due to their inexperience, they will botch many. Mothers may capture young animals and allow their cubs to practice killing them.

Months 12-24
Cubs make their first kills, which are generally young, weakened individuals.

Months 24-26
Males and females both reach sexual maturity, but neither generally successfully mate at this age. They are still growing into their adult sizes.

Years 2-3
Young males are chased out of the pride by the older males and must survive on their own. This is the most difficult part of a male lion's life, and they strive to find another pride to take over, which generally does not happen until they are at least 4 years old. Brothers tend to stick together. Females stay in the natal pride all their lives unless there is conflict and the pride splits.

Years 3-4
Males and females reach adult size and are considered adults by 3 years. Male lions' manes continue to grow. Lionesses may give birth to their first surviving litters.

Years 4-5
Males usually have taken over a pride at this time by driving out the resident male(s) or killing him/them.

Year 7
Manes are finally fully grown-in.

Year 10
Lone males often die around this age. In a coalition or within a pride, they may live around 14-15 years. However, younger males have an easier time outing older ones at this age.

Year 11
Female fertility decreases.

Year 15
Lionesses are considered quite old now. They may live up to 18 years.

Behavior

Prides
Lions are the only felines to live in social groups, which are called prides. In Savanna, the maximum number of adults allowed in a pride is 12. There may be no more than 4 adult males. A maximum amount of 8 cubs above the age of 3 months is allowed. More may be under that age, but not all of them will survive. Note that the cub mortality rate is 50% or more. Young males must be chased out by the age of 3 years.

Lionesses all help in the care of cubs, and may even "cub-sit" while others go out to hunt. Males mark the territory by spraying urine and rubbing/scratching on trees. Both male and female lions are hostile to intruders, but only males take on the role of patrolling the territory. Females focus on hunting.

Male lions do not spend all of their time with the lionesses. They often go out on the own as they did when they were loners, but now they have a territory to patrol. Males stay around the females most often when they are in estrus.

Hunting
Males rarely participate in hunts because they are more easily spotted and have less endurance because of their manes. They most often assist in hunting large prey like buffalo, giraffes, and elephants. Males focus on patrolling and marking the territory, protecting the pride from other predators or rogue males. Hyenas are killed on sight, and male lions may even go out of their way to dig up hyena dens and kill their cubs. Hyenas are rarely eaten.

Lions stalk their prey to get close enough to reach the animal with a short-lasting burst of speed, relying on planning and cooperation. If able to do so, the prey is suffocated by crushing of the windpipe, aided by long canines. In the case of larger animals, one lion may jump upon the prey's back and sever the spine, paralyzing it from that point downwards. On buffalo, one lion may bite on the snout to make breathing more difficult.

Lions only succeed 3 in 10 hunts.

Feeding
Lions become very possessive of food and fight each other while feeding. Many scars are gained this way. How possessive your character is is up to you, though. Males, being larger than females, will dominate kills, and females often have to wait for them to finish. Males may or may not allow their cubs to feed with them. But again, whether your character is like this or not is up to you.

Mating
Females go into heat, or estrus, for 4-7 days at a time, often syncing up with their pride mates. The average time between estruses is 55 days. Male lions will kill small cubs from previous males when taking over a pride, which makes the females go back into estrus within a few days, though the lionesses do try to fight them off. Whether your character commits infanticide or not is up to you.

Pride males are generally not competitive for females. A pair will go off on their own and mate around 100 times every day for several days. It is painful for the lioness, so she roars and bares her teeth, and males often hold their scruffs while mating.

Communication
Lions have several vocalizations including growling, roaring, chuffing, and woofing/grunting. Growling is for depicting anger or warning, usually paired with bared teeth. Roaring is used to claim territory and deter intruders. Chuffing is a soft puff of air used to display contentment while bonding with others. Lionesses will "woof" or grunt to their cubs to tell them to come to her.

Activity
Lions may be active during the day but spend most of that time sleeping and lounging around. They do the majority of their hunting in the coolness and cover of night. In full darkness, prey can be merely walked up to without taking notice.

Lions rubs heads to bond with each other, which also leaves their own scent on the other individual. Grooming is another bonding activity.

Relationships with Other Predators

Spotted Hyenas
Lions and spotted hyenas are competitors for food and land. Hyenas are more intelligent, numerous, and cooperative, but lions are more powerful. Hyenas usually do not kill lions because it is too risky. Lionesses usually do not end up killing hyenas, but male lions will. A male lion has less to fear because he is stronger, has a mane for protection, and is full of testosterone. Hyenas know to scatter when a male lion appears. A large amount of cackling hyenas puffing themselves up may intimidate lions enough to chase them off, though.

Both lions and hyenas will scavenge from each other as well as other animals. Lions, being less successful hunters and having less to fear, tend to scavenge more often. Lone male lions are notorious thieves of spotted hyena kills because hunting is especially difficult for them.

African Wild Dogs
African wild dogs offer no threat to adult lions. Only unattended young cubs have anything to fear.

Life Cycle

Pregnancy and Birth

Spotted hyenas are pregnant for around 110 days. They give birth in secluded underground dens.

Litter size is usually 1-2 cubs, uncommonly 3. Birthing is very complicated and painful, as the female spotted hyena has a pseudo-penis that is an elongated clitoris, and cubs are born quite large at 3.3 pounds (the largest of any mammal in comparison to the mother's weight).

Threats
Spotted hyena cubs are threatened by basically everything: Other predators like leopards, jackals, and African wild dogs, and birds of prey. Male lions are their biggest threat, as they will go out of their way to dig out hyena dens and kill all the cubs. There is often nothing the clan can do.

Development

Days 0-7
Cubs are born highly developed with open eyes and ears and a full set of teeth. They are born a deep brown or black with no spots. Cubs begin fighting for dominance immediately out of the womb. Infanticide and injury is common, especially between same-sexed cubs, killing 25% of all spotted hyena cubs. Mothers try to stop the fighting with little success.

The more dominant a female is, the more androgen her cubs will have. This means that more dominant, higher-ranking females give birth to cubs that will likely be the same. Dominance is correlated with size.

Days 7-10
Cubs are capable of running.

Days 14-35
The mother moves her cubs to the communal den (a series of underground tunnels), which females fiercely protect, even from males. Exceptions may be made for higher-ranking males, but fathers generally have little involvement with the raising of cubs.

Due to the incredibly high fat content of spotted hyena milk (the highest of any mammal bar polar bears), cubs can go days without feeding.

Month 1
Cubs are known to engage in social behavior like greeting and dominance displays at this age.

Month 2
Dark fur begins to give way to lighter fur, revealing their spots.

Month 3
Cubs can digest meat but are still dependent on milk. Food is not regurgitated.

Month 8
Cubs begin to exhibit hunting behavior and are no longer entirely dependent on milk.

Months 12-16
Cubs are fully weaned and begin to participate in hunts.

Years 2-3
Hyenas reach sexual maturity and are considered adults. Spots are completely visible. Males leave the natal clan in search of a new one.

Year 12
This is the maximum age that loner hyenas may live to in Savanna.

Year 20
This is the maximum age spotted hyenas in a clan may live to in Savanna.

Behavior

Sexual Dimorphism
Spotted hyenas are unique among mammals in that the females are larger and more dominant than the males. This is due to high levels of androgen.

Clans
The maximum amount of adults allowed in a clan is 30. There may be 10 cubs above the age of 3 months. More may be under that age, but not all of them will survive. Young males must leave by the age of 3 years.

Spotted hyena clans have linear hierarchies. Because they are larger and more dominant, females always hold higher ranks than males in a clan. The leader of the clan is called the matriarch. Rank is inherited, so a daughter will take the rank directly below her mother. In the case of multiple daughters, they will have sorted out which is higher and which is lower at a young age.

The strongest daughter of the matriarch is generally who becomes the next matriarch, but the matriarch's sister may challenge this rank and become the matriarch. Mothers enforce their daughters' rank even when they are cubs, and lower-ranking individuals will respect those cubs even when the mother is not around.

Ranks can change if one member is able to dominate another, and hyenas are known to constantly test each other. However, for the most part, a high-ranking hyena will remain high-ranking, and a low-ranking one will remain low-ranking. There is no competition between males and females, and males tend to be less competitive amongst each other.

The ears and back of the neck are often the areas bitten in disputes between clan mates, but hyenas may bite anywhere to get the point across. Several hyenas may even gang up on one to get it to submit. Many tattered ears and scars are gained from dominance disputes, as they are not gentle.

Hunting
Spotted hyenas are known for being scavengers, and they do scavenge quite a bit from leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs, and sometimes lions. However, they are also highly skilled hunters, successful nearly every single time. They hunt similarly to canines, able to take down prey much larger than themselves. They break off into hunting parties and find a herd of ungulates (hoofed mammals). Instead of stalking, they entice the herd to run, picking out weak individuals. Hyenas can run for miles without tiring thanks to a huge heart, thus they make their prey run to exhaustion.

When they catch up to their prey, they aim for the flanks, stomach, and possibly the neck, able to hold on and even be dragged along thanks to powerful jaws and neck muscles. Prey is eaten alive, sometimes while standing, and the animal dies in the process from blood loss or shock.

Feeding
Unlike lions, hyenas are more apt to share meals. Once a kill has been made, they give off whoops to alert the rest of the clan. More dominant individuals may enforce their rank for the best pieces, but hyenas do not actively fight amongst each other for food.

Hyenas can eat more parts of a kill than most other animals due to their powerful bone-crushing jaws and highly acidic stomachs. As a result, hyenas can eat nearly every part of a kill, including bones, hooves, and horns. This also makes them efficient scavengers.

Mating
Spotted hyenas do not mate for life, but your character may have a desired partner or partners if you wish. Females choose which males they wish to mate with once in estrus, and they do so in seclusion. A pair will mate several times within a few hours. Mating is complicated and painful for the female.

Cubs are often born in the wet season but do not have to be.

Intelligence
Spotted hyenas are very intelligent. This is evident in their complex social structures, recognition of relatives and rankings, wide range of vocalizations, and amazing cooperative skills. The key to this cooperation is an instinct and desire to copy what others are doing, and so they work together without needing much persuasion. They cooperate and teach each other more quickly and effectively than chimpanzees.

Communication
Spotted hyenas are highly vocal animals. They squitter, whoop, cackle, squeal, and grunt. Squittering is a high-pitched squealing sound made by very young cubs to demand milk. Whooping is used to call other hyenas to a scene, and may be done by lowering the head to the ground to allow the sound to travel further. Cackling, or laughing, is a sound emitted when a hyena is highly excited or anxious, like at a kill, when fighting/being chased, or when lions are around. Squealing is done out of pain. Grunts are used in greetings but also as a warning towards another hyena.

Hyenas greet each other by grunting and lifting a leg so the other may sniff their genitals. The lower-ranking individual always lifts their leg first. Flattening of the ears, tucking of the tail, lowering of the body, and grinning are submissive gestures. Erect ears, a lifted tail, and a fluffed mane and tail are dominant gestures. Fluffing up the mane and tail makes a hyena look larger and is used for intimidation. This, paired with sheer numbers and a mass of cackling, may even be used to scare lions away.

Activity
Spotted hyenas may be active during the day but are the most active at dusk and dawn.

Relationships with Other Predators

Lions
Lions and hyenas are the most bitter of enemies, as they compete for the same prey and land. Spotted hyenas stand a chance if they outnumber lionesses or young males but usually scatter at the sight of an adult male lion. The male lion's mane gives them added protection, and they are notorious hyena killers. Lionesses rarely kill hyenas, but it is possible. It is uncommon but possible for hyenas to kill a lion, though there is much risk involved. Both lions and hyenas are known to scavenge from each other, lions (especially males) often doing so more often because hyenas are more successful hunters.

African Wild Dogs
African wild dogs are more of an annoyance to hyenas, especially if alone. It is highly unlikely that wild dogs will kill a hyena, but if surrounded their bites can hurt, and it can be difficult for the hyena to get away. The wild dogs must beware the hyena's powerful bite, though. If multiple hyenas want to scavenge from a wild dog pack, there is nothing they can do.

Leopards
Spotted hyenas can snag leopard kills if stashed too low in a tree, able to jump up and tear off pieces or even bring the whole carcass tumbling to the ground. A leopard stands little chance even against a single hyena, so they are frequent targets of scavenging.