Unit9-Part1-Reading

The king of the jungle, the lion.

The lion is the second largest cat after the tiger.

Lions live in the grasslands and woodlands of south and east Africa.

Lions are very social animals.

They live in prides of about 30 lions.

Sometimes a pride can be very small, with only three lions,

and a big pride can have 40 members.

The lions of the pride communicate by roaring.

Their roar is very powerful and loud.

You can hear it from eight kilometers away.

A pride usually has three males and about a dozen females, lionesses.

The females care for their cubs and feed them.

Each female is the mother of two to three cubs.

A male lion's job is to guard the territory and to protect the pride.

They do this by roaring and chasing off their enemies.

Lions hunt at night.

They hunt zebras, hippos, antelopes, buffaloes, crocodiles, giraffes, and young elephants.

They also sometimes prey on mice, birds, lizards, and other small animals.

Females are the hunters of a pride, because they are smaller and faster than males.

They hunt in groups of two or three.

They chase and catch the animal together.

Then the stronger ones knock the animal down and kill it.

After the hunt, all the lions of the pride share the meal.

The males eat first, the females eat next, and the cubs eat last.

Lions can go without water for four to five days, but they drink water every day if there is water in the territory.

Lions spend 16 to 20 hours a day sleeping or resting.

They are the laziest of all big cats.

They often lie down on their backs or snooze in a tree.

While they are resting, they often cuddle each other or rub heads together, just like cats do.

They often pur to each other like house cats too.