When we say lion, it will always remind us of the lion with mane, majestic and king of the grasslands in Africa. On the other side of the earth, there is also a cat called 'lion', which has the same agile body and becomes the king of the mountains in the Americas.

That is our main character today – American lion.

Big cats

The American lion is the largest cat in the cat subfamily, and the male American lion can weigh up to 100 kg, but its habitat is widespread, mostly living in mountainous areas, so they are also called 'mountain lions' locally.

Although the name contains 'lion', the American lion is an indisputable big cat, and it is called American lion for a certain reason.

At that time, it was the 16th century, the Age of Discovery, and the Europeans first came to the American continent. Subsequently, they discovered this large cat with a large body and golden color. According to the convention, cats with pure colors are called lions, cats with spots are called leopards, and cats with stripes are called tigers, so naturally, these Europeans called this local cat the American lion.

It is interesting that the cubs of the American lion have spots until they grow up and turn into a pure red or golden color fur.

If you take a closer look, in addition to being pure-colored like African lions, they all look very different. The American lion's head is smaller and rounder, the muzzle is shorter, and the body is also more slender than its distant relatives, the cheetahs, in Africa. Overall, it is still quite different from the real lion.

Having been called American lion for so long, it has become a habit, and it makes no big difference to change its name. But their living habits are still very similar to most cat subfamilies.

Like most cat animals, they are very skilled hunters, good at hiding and ambushing prey. Their diet is also very broad and not picky, only need to fill their stomachs, they are happy to be treated as an American lion feast, and even grab some insects as a snack to supplement six times protein

Because they mostly live in the mountains, they have very strong jumping ability, which can easily jump over more than 3 meters, and can also jump down from 15 meters high trees or cliffs.

They are like most cat animals, they like to be active on trees, as long as there is prey, they will jump down from under the trees to give the prey a fatal blow. Therefore, they are the top predators in America's cat, second only to the American jaguar (also known as the American jaguar), but if they really fight against each other, the American lion can only admit defeat, because the combat power of the American jaguar is the old three of the cat.

Gentle giants

Compared to the fierce and aggressive American jaguar, the American lion can be considered very gentle and rarely has a proactive attack on humans. Even some signs in North America recommend that if you encounter an American lion, raise your hands to scare it away instead of relying on self-reliance.

Some American lions occasionally enter some North American homes, they will sneak into the living room when no one is home, and then sleep peacefully on the sofa before leaving.

American lions invading homes

Some people even adopt American lion cubs from a young age, and they can get along well with other animals when they grow up. The most famous one is a pair of Russian couples who adopted an American lion named Messi.

However, Messi's situation is special, it is a dwarf American lion, its body is only half of a normal American lion, and in the wild, it cannot survive on its own. In the animal park, it has no conditions to open a single room, so it is considered a good thing to be adopted by humans.

There are many videos of American lion Messi online for everyone to watch, feeling like a dog, when happy it will make a 'purring' sound like a cat, which is very interesting.

Although American lions have many in the wild now, and the success rate of breeding in protected areas and institutions is very high, their survival environment still faces many challenges.

In addition to habitat destruction, the demand for their fur has led to a large number of American lions being hunted, and because American lions cannot find food, they have attacked livestock to be retaliated against. Therefore, most American lions have to migrate to the plateau mountains, where food is relatively scarce, and they also face the threat of the North American gray wolf with the same body size. However, compared to dying under modern civilization's firearms, they still found a way to survive.

Now with the Animal Protection Act, the hunting of American lions has been improved, this beautiful and spiritual creature still gallops across the American continent, just like its legendary story as a mountain god, will continue to be passed down.