![]() Lions will often fight off other animals, such as hyenas and cheetahs, to get to the carcass. ![]() Lions will also eat the young children of elephants and rhinoceroses.Ī large part of their diet comes from scavenging instead of live prey, especially in times of scarcity. These carnivorous animals eat a lot of meat, preying on animals such as buffalo, zebra, antelope, warthog, and giraffe. The papillae will transfer saliva to the fur, helping to cool the animal down. They assist the lion in drinking large amounts of water. The papillae also benefit the lion in other ways. If a lion were to lick your skin, with applied pressure, it will remove the skin from your hand. The abrasiveness of the tongue can pull the hair right off a bone, thorns, dander, and debris out of fur, and tenderize flesh. These papillae are backward-facing on a lion’s tongue, resulting in a spiny and rough surface. Keratin is a protein that also makes up hair and fingernails in humans. Small incisors located in the front of the mouth grip, while sharp carnassial teeth tear meat into chunks before swallowing.Īll members of the cat family, including lions, have a tongue that is covered in small, raised, scoop-shaped, protrusions made from keratin, called papillae. They may also suffocate prey by clamping down or over a prey’s throat or nose and mouth with its own mouth. Lions do not chew food, yet use their strong mouths and teeth to grasp and kill. Lions have long canine teeth set in large jaws that can open up to 11-inches wide. Small animals are killed with a bat of the paw or a quick bite to the head.See also Can Tigers Climb Trees? Lion Mouth Anatomy Typically, a lion kills a large animal by strangulation, biting down on its throat or, sometimes, on its nose and mouth. But, although lions can reach a top speed of 60km/hr for short distances, their prey usually escapes (only about one stalk in six is successful). There is a rush and a leap as the lion comes in range of its victim. They stalk up as close as possible, using every bit of available cover before making a final charge, going for the closest individual. Usually, several lionesses, working as a team, spread out and approach a herd from different directions. Male lions usually leave almost all of the hunting to the females, but once a kill is made, they will sometimes drive off the females and cubs in order to be the first to feed upon the prey. ![]() The skull (above left) has large surfaces for the insertion of the powerful jaw muscles. ![]() The molars are rudimentary because their food is swallowed in chunks, unchewed. The canines of a lion (left), which are long, sharp and slightly recurved, are excellent tools for grasping and wounding prey, while the sharp premolars are effective in tearing away chunks of flesh. The main threats to lions are indiscriminate killing, primarily as a result of retaliatory or preemptive killing to protect human life and livestock, and prey base depletion (again, due to human activities). The IUCN rates lions as vulnerable, the next stage before endangered, and lion populations have long been in decline. (Most prefer their humans raw, with ketchup, mustard, pickles, lettuce and a little mayo on a sesame bun!) All joking aside, the truth is that humans are inflicting a lot more damage on lions these days than vice versa. And, of course, they're perfectly happy to eat human beings as well.
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