The lion is a big cat, in the same group as tigers, leopards and jaguars. Almost all wild lions live in Africa, and a small group lives in India. Lions live in many kinds of places, including grassland, open woodland and scrub. Lions do not live in tropical rainforests.

Most kinds of cats live alone, but lions live together in groups called prides. A pride is built around related adult females and their young, plus a few adult males who are not their relatives; female lions usually stay in the pride they were born into, often for life. A pride can have as few as two lions or as many as 40; prides are smaller where food is scarce and larger where there is plenty of prey.

Male lions guard the pride and patrol its territory. Lions mark their territory with scent. Lions roar to mark their territory and to keep in touch with their own pride; a lion's roar helps strengthen the bond among members of a pride. A lion's roar can be heard from up to five miles (8 kilometers) away. Male lions start to roar when they are about one year old, and females start a few months later.

Female lions, called lionesses, do most of the hunting for the pride; male lions hunt too, but much less than females. Lions hunt together, which gives them a better chance of getting food; hunting lionesses fan out and come at their prey from different directions. Lions rely on stalking and a short chase rather than a long run; together, lions can take down animals as big as buffalo and giraffe. Most lion hunts do not succeed.

Lions are meat eaters that hunt big animals such as zebra and wildebeest. When prey is scarce, lions will eat almost any animal and scavenge the kills of other predators. Lions steal food from other hunters such as hyenas and leopards. At a kill, the resident male lion usually eats first. Lions are top predators that help keep their ecosystem healthy.

Male lions weigh about 330 to 550 pounds (150 to 250 kilograms), and females weigh about 265 to 395 pounds; female lions typically live longer than males in the wild. The lion is the second-largest big cat in the world, after the tiger; male lions grow a shaggy mane, and no other kind of wild cat grows one. A male lion's mane gets darker as he gets older; a male lion's mane makes him look bigger and more impressive to rivals and to females.

A lioness carries her cubs for about three and a half months before they are born. A lioness has a litter of cubs about every two years. A lioness hides her newborn cubs for the first several weeks while they grow strong. Lionesses in a pride raise their cubs together. Lion cubs drink their mother's milk for about six months.

Thousands of years ago, lions lived across much more of the world, including parts of Europe and Asia. Lions are threatened by habitat loss and by conflict with people over livestock. As of November 2026, the IUCN Red List lists the lion as Vulnerable to extinction.

Words to know

• prides: lion family groups
• territory: a pride's land
• predators: animals that hunt
• Vulnerable: at risk
• ecosystem: living things together