Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/705

 LION 681 column is composed of seven cervical, thirteen dorsal, seven lumbar, three sacral, and about twenty-six caudal vertebra. The clavicles are about 3 inches in length, embedded loosely in the muscles, and not directly connected either with the sternum or the scapula. The limbs are digitigrade, the animal resting upon round soft pads or cushions covered with thick, naked skin, one on the under surface of each of the principal toes, and one larger one of trilobed form, behind these, under the lower ends of the metacarpat and metatarsal bones, which are placed nearly vertically in ordinary progression. The fore feet have five toes, of which the third and fourth are nearly equal and longest, the second being slightly and the fifth considerably shorter. The first or pollex (corresponding to the human thumb) is much shorter than the others, and does not reach to the ground in walking. The hind feet have only four toes, the third and fourth being the longest, the second and fifth somewhat shorter and nearly equal. The first or hallux (or great toe) is represented only by n rudimentary metatarsal bone. The claws are all very large, strongly compressed, very sharp, and exhibit the retractile condition in the highest degree, being drawn backwards and upwards into a cutaneous sheath by the action of an elastic ligament so long as the foot is in a state of repose, but exserted by muscular action when the animal strikes its prey. By this remarkable piece of animal mechanism their edges and points are always kept sharp and unworn. The habits of the lion in a state of nature are fairly well known from the united observations of numerous travellers and sportsmen who have explored those districts of the African continent in which it is still common. It lives chiefly in sandy plains and rocky places interspersed with dense thorn-thickets, or frequents the low bushes and tall rank grass and reeds that grow along the sides of streams and near the springs where it :lies in wait for the larger herbivorous animals on which it feeds. Although it is occa sionally seen abroad during the day, especially in wild and desolate regions, where it is subject to but little molestation, the night is, as in the case of so many other predaceous animals, the period of its greatest activity. It is then that its characteristic roar is chiefly heard, as thus graphically described by Gordon Gumming : &quot; One of the most striking tilings connected with the lion is his voice, which is extremely grand and peculiarly striking. It con sists at times of a low deep moaning, repeated five or six times, ending in faintly audible sighs ; at other times he startles the forest with loud, deep-toned, solemn roars, repeated in quick suc cession, encli increasing in loudness to the third or fourth, when his voice dies away in five or six low muffled sounds very much resemb ling distant thunder. At times, and not unfrequently, a troop may lie heard, roaring in concert, one assuming the lead, ami two, three, or four more regularly taking up their parts, like persons singing a catch. Like our Scottish stags at the rutting season, they roar loudest in cold frosty nights ; but on no occasions are their voices tc&amp;gt; be heard in such perfection, or so intensely powerful, as when two or three troops of strange lions approach a fountain to drink at the same time. &quot;When this occurs, every member of each troop sounds a bold roar of defiance at the. opposite parties ; and when one roars, all roar together, and each seems to vie with his com rades in the intensity and power of his voice. The power and grandeur of these nocturnal concerts is inconceivably striking and pleasing to the hunter s ear.&quot; &quot;The usual pace of a lion,&quot; C. J. Andersson l says, &quot;is a walk, and, though apparently rather slow, yet, from the great length of his body, he is able to get over a good deal of ground in a short time. Occasionally he trots, when his speed is not inconsiderable. His gallop or rather succession of bounds is, for a short distance, very fast, nearly or quite equal to that of a horse. Indeed, unless the steed has somewhat the start when the beast charges, it will be puzzled to escape. Many instances are on record of horsemen who have incautiously approached too near to 1 The Lion and the Eli-pliant, 1873, p. 19. the lion, prior to firing, who have been pulled down by him before they could get out of harm s way. Happily, however, the beast soon tires of the exertion of galloping, and unless his first rush succeeds he, for the most part, soon halts and beats a retreat.&quot; &quot; The lion, as with other members of the feline family,&quot; the same writer tells us, &quot;seldom attacks his prey openly, unless compelled by extreme hunger. For the most part he steals upon it in the manner of a cat, or ambushes himself near to the water, or a pathway frequented by game. At such times lie lies crouched upon his belly in a thicket until the animal approaches sufficiently near, when, with one prodigious bound, he pounces upon it. In most cases he is successful, but should his intended victim escape, as at times happens, from his having miscalculated ^the distance, he may make a second or even a third bound, which, however, usually prove fruitless, or he returns disconcerted to his hiding- place, there to wait for another opportunity.&quot; His food consists of all the larger herbivorous animals of the country in which he resides, buffaloes, various kinds of antelopes, zebras, giraffes, or even young elephants or rhinoceroses, though the adults of these latter he dare not attack. In cultivated districts the cattle, sheep, and even human inhabitants are never safe from his nocturnal ravages. He appears, however, as a general rule, only to kill when hungry or attacked, and not for the mere pleasure of killing, as with some other carnivorous animals. He, moreover, by no means limits himself to animals of his own killing, but, according to Selous, often prefers eating game that has been killed by man, even when not very fresh, to taking the trouble to catch an animal himself. All books of African travel and sport abound with stories, many of which are apparently well authenticated, of the lion s prodigious strength, as exemplified by his being able to drag off a whole ox in his moutli to a long distance, even leaping fences and dykes with. it. The lion appears to be monogamous, a single male and female continuing attached to each other irrespectively of the pairing season. At all events the lion remains with the lioness while the cubs are young and helpless, and assists in providing her and them with food, and in educating them in the art of providing for themselves. The number of cubs at a birth is from two to four, usually three. They are said to remain with their parents till they are about three years old. The following account by an eyewitness gives a good idea of lion family life 2 : &quot; I once had the pleasure of, unobserved myself, watching a lion family feeding. I was encamped on the Black Umfolosi in Zulu- land, and towards evening, walking out, about half a mile from camp, I saw a herd of zebra galloping across me, and when they were nearly 200 yards off, I saw a yellow body Hash to wards the leader, and saw him fall beneath the lion s weight. There was a tall tree about 60 yards from the place, and anxious to see what went on, I stalked up to it, while the lion was still too much occupied to look about him, and climbed up. He had by this time quite killed the beautifully striped animal, but instead of proceeding to eat it, lie got up and roared vigorously, until there was an answer, and in a few minutes a lioness, accompanied by four whelps, came trotting up from the same direction as the zebra, which no doubt she had been to drive towards her husband. They formed a fine picture, as they all stood round the carcase, the whelps tearing it and biting it, but unable to get through the tough skin. Then the lion lay down, and the lioness driving her offspring before her did the same 4 or 5 yards olF, upon hich he got up, and commencing to eat, had soon finished a hind-leg, re tiring a few yards on one side as soon as he had done so. The lioness came up next and tore the carcase to shreds, bolting huge mouthfuls, but not objecting to the whelps eating as much as they could find. There was a good deal of snarling and quarrelling among these young lions, and occasionally a stand-up light for a minute, but their mother did not take any notice of them, except to give them a smart blow with her paw if they got in her way. . . . There was now little left of the zebra but a few bones, which hun- 2 Hon. V. IT. Drummond, The Laryc Game and Natural History of South and Soutli-East Africa, 1875, p. 278. XIV. 86