Lion pictures and videos

[The Panther]

Young Ethiopian male in the Harenna rainforest, Bale National Park, Ethiopia.

*This image is copyright of its original author

This is in the lower altitude range of the forest at around 4000-5000 ft, so the climate is mild at those altitudes and lions usually grow medium sized manes here. The forest extends up to 10,000 ft so the climate is drastically different, it's a lot colder and frost is a very common sight in the forest at that altitude. Lions would have thick fur and much larger manes in the higher parts of Harenna forest, and like the lions even the forest starts to look very different, it goes from looking very tropical to looking quite European at those higher altitudes. Beyond the Harenna forest is the alpine meadows or tundra, here it can snow throughout the year and is home to the rare Ethiopian wolf. Lions have been known to roam through those parts of the mountains even going as high as 13,000 and 14,000 ft, freezing temperatures are common all year at those altitudes. This shows that Ethiopian lions are both warm and cold climate cats even within the same national park, which is quite unique, it's like 2 different populations but really only separated by altitudes. Reply