8 Fantastic Secrets Why The Lion is Considered “King of The Jungle”

I’ve heard it all my life, but am not even sure that the lion (also called Panthera leo), found majorly in East Africa’s (Kidepo Valley National Park, Murchison Falls National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Parks in Uganda, Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater & Lake Manyara ), Ethiopia, Tanzania and Mozambique, Congo and currently extinct in Rwanda is really the “King of the jungle”.

This brave animal that appears lazy is always considered king over all other animals including tigers, crocodiles, bears, elephants, hippos, rhinos, wild beasts, giraffes etc.

Many people have criticized the decision of calling ‘him’ so. Below are a few reasons that will make you accept that the crow is really theirs.

1. Powerful eye sight and hearing capability: The lion’s eyesight is five times better than a human’s, and it can hear prey that is more than a mile away.
2. Using their keen sense of smell, lions can tell if their prey is nearby and even how long ago it was in the area.

2. Extraordinary prestige and pride: This is typically because of a lion’s appearance and somewhat because of the social credit by other animals. A lion does possess a royal look and attitude. Add to that a tremendous roar that can be heard over miles across the Savannah. Also, living in a pride, a lion doesn’t need to hide itself or avoid any other animals including human beings. A lion lives in the open and controls its territory like a true king.

3. The lion is very muscular: Uganda Safari visitors will notice that the bodies of these animalas is very muscular, with less bone mass than other animals of comparable size. The forebody of the lion is very powerfully built, and has the greatest forebody strength of any cat, except possibly the tiger. This enables the lion to deliver blows with its forepaws heavy enough to break a zebra’s back.

4. Lifestyle: Lions, being in pride has to ‘rule’ his ‘subjects’ and also, being in a pride means that it can live in the open, and not hide in the jungle.
   Living in prides give lions the strength in numbers. So far so that even elephants do not unnecessarily disturb the lion’s lion pride. Only a very large pack of hyena may challenge a pride over a kill, or elephants may sometimes chase lions away from a water hole. But other than that, the king retains his throne.

5. Powerful sense of smell: Using their keen sense of smell, lions can tell if prey is nearby and even how long ago it was in the area.

6. Cultural Influence: From the ancient Greeks (“lions’ reputation for kindness and nobility was extended by Pliny and Aristotle”, Page 286, Ref. 28) to the present day Europeans and inhabitants of New World, the lion is a more familiar animal than the tiger or any other animal. Also, a wildlife tourist paying a fortune for a tour would rather prefer to see a whole pride of wild cats that can be spotted easily and observed for a long a time, than catching a glimpse of an elusive cat for half a minute after waiting for two days!

7. Incredible strength: By same comparison, all tertiary carnivores would be eligible for being the king, but due to its evident strength, visual majesty and other obvious features, it came to be historically regarded as such definitely not based on backbreaking scientific logic.

8. The Mane: The oh-so-extraordinary manes of the males gives them a very noble and attractive look, a crown if you may. It also makes them appear bigger than they are (fact being tigers are bigger than the lions). The manes also make the lions even appear more threatening.

The term “King of the Beast” can be misleading because several times lions have been seen running away from many creatures, including elephants and rhinoceros.