The sex life of the lions is incredible. Some cats are not like other cats, especially a species of the big golden cats. The male lion is all the men's idol or fright. If the female lion says yes, he is able to make love each quarter or 100 times in a day and continuously for almost one week.
The African wild life in unique in many ways. Especially one thing has fascinated people for years; the intensive sex life of the lions. Male lions deserve to be called the Savannah's Casanovas and Don Juans.
Photo: A male lion is hungry for love.
They live up to these names well. Most of them are unfaithful. They often change partners. It is almost like a sport for them. In this period they forget the hunting. Antelopes, zebras and gnus can rest in peace for a while. Lions can keep going for almost a week without food. All is about sex.
Synchronised fertility
If intercourses don't results in pregnancy, the female get a kind of revenge after few weeks. The female will be in heat again one more time, and they start all over again. The unique thing here is that the female has a synchronised heat. It means that they are in heat (fertilisation) at the same time so the males don't have to compete over the females. But life here is more complicated than that.
Photo: Action starts - the lovemaking is extremely intense.
No gentleman
The big female lions like to get their own children (cubes). Flirting and dating is not a normal behaviour for male lions. They are definitely not romantic and lack good skills to behave as gentlemen. Seldom is charm used to earn the female's willing attentions. So when they approach the females, the reception is seldom heartily.
Often the female lion resists against the over 200 kg heavy male. The protest roar is wasted and resistance is impossible. He roars back and takes what he wants. It's the man's world! No mercy. Hard and brutal. Soon he finds his favourite position on the female's back. 15-20 seconds, and that's it. So they take a short break. After 10-15 minutes they are ready for action again.
The same ritual goes with roaring, snarling and biting. If he is so strong that he manages to conquer a whole lion flock, he kills the children one by one. After that he make loves with the childless mother. It takes a time before the female gets fertilised. Together they have to work hard both day and night.
Photos below: The Maasai tribe in Kenya knows everything worth knowing about lions.
They are also the only living creature the lions fear. Manhood can be showed in several ways. For the Masai the best way to prove their manhood is to kill a lion.
Lions family life
The male has to look out for competitors all the time. At worst another can become the father instead of him. He has to protect his partner as best he can. Research shows just one out of five of the intercourses results in pregnancy. It says that the lions have to do it 1500 times to be sure.
The female is the hunter. The male responsibility is to take care of the children, therefore he has a lot of time to rest and reload his batteries. The lion males need definitely not Viagra to strengthen their vitality. The rulers of the savannahs are the male lions.
These big cats are the Casanovas and Don Juans, and they do what they want and have no scruples. That is the hard law of the jungle in Africa. Look in the deep grass, you probably will see a non-stop live show. Male lions: all the men`s idol or fear? 100 times in a day can be too much.
Stein Morten Lund, 22 November 2000.
Additional information
Read more about the wild life on our site.
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