The lion is one of the
four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With
some males exceeding 250 kg (550 lb) weight, it is the
second-largest living cat after the tiger.
Wild lions
currently exist in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia with an endangered remnant population in Gir Forest National Park in India, having disappeared from North
Africa and Southwest Asia in historic times.
Until the late Pleistocene, about
10,000 years ago, the lion was the most widespread large land mammal after
humans.
Lions are unusually social
compared to other cats.
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