Panthera leo persica
Few people know that the lion, a symbol of the African savannahs, also lives in Asia. It’s a distinct and particularly threatened subspecies: the Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) which once populated a vast territory from the Mediterranean Sea to India, today survives with only 350 specimens present in north-western India in the small reserve of the Gir National Park and in the surrounding areas.
The only social feline, it lives in herds composed of a dominant male, a group of related females and young individuals.
Strictly carnivorous, it feeds on medium-sized animals, such as deer or wild boar, which are hunted mainly by the females of the group. It can eat up to 30 kg of meat in one meal, and then fast for several days.
Mating can take place any time of the year and, after 4 months of gestation, from 1 to 6 blind and inept cubs are born that reach weaning after about 10 months.
WHO IS HERE AT THE BIOPARCO?
The Bioparco houses Sajani, born in 2013 in Germany and Ravi born on the 25th of January 2016 at the Planckendael Zoo in Belgium. The family expanded with the arrival of two cubs born on the 29th of April 2020.
When the keepers scatter different odours in the exhibit, aimed at stimulating the two animal’s senses, Sajani, that is curious and resourceful rubs on them while Ravi, that is more fearful, avoids any novelty.
Sajani’s and Ravi’s diet is made up of 6-7 kg of meat per day including horse, buffalo, rabbits for 4 days a week: a considerable amount that is alternated with 3 days of fasting; after all you don’t eat every day in nature!
