Overview: African Lion vs Grizzly Bear

African lions and Grizzly bears are large carnivorous animals; both are apex predators of their environment. Lions live in pride whereas grizzly bears are solitary and leave alone. The animal fight between the African lion and grizzly bear would be very interesting, seeing these two ferocious beasts fight would fascinate many people. If you are one such person then this article is for you; here, you’ll get to know about the various traits of these two, in the end depending on their characteristics we will determine the winner of this animal duel. Let’s know about them.

Physical Traits:

What are the physical adaptations of a lion?

Lions are the second-largest cat of the big cat family after the tiger. Male lions are about 20-30% larger in size and are 50% heavier than their female counterparts. Lions have a muscular body, big head, long canines, strong jaws, and sharp claws; these all are the perfect combination to make a lion apex predator. Lions have different coloration they may vary from white to tawny yellow, slightly ochre, ash brown. Lions have distinct “whisker spots” which are different in every lion; the top row of whiskers forms a pattern through which a lion can be identified as they remain the same throughout their life.

What are the physical characteristics of a grizzly bear?

Grizzly bears are counted among the largest carnivores but sometimes they do eat fruits, berries, roots, and forbs; so they are omnivores. The body length of a grizzly bear ranges between 1-2.8 meters having a 35-210 mm long tail. When it stands erect on its two hind legs, it can reach a towering height of about 8 feet. Their weight ranges between 100-600 kg. Males are quite larger than females; an adult male grizzly can weigh around 390 kg whereas the average weight of female is 207 kg. Grizzly bears have long-sharp canines and possess sharp claws.

Behavioral Traits:

Lions are quite social; they live in prides which can have 2-40 members. Each pride has a dominant male which takes care of its territory and drives away other intruding male lions. Once a dominant male of the pride gets defeated by the outsider, he leaves the pride whereas the winning outsider takes the pride and kills all the cubs less than 2 years old to make lionesses ready to mate. Grizzly bears are solitary animals; they prefer to live alone but can be easily spotted together where there is rich availability of food. Grizzly bears only meet during mating season; family groups of mother with her cubs roam together as bears are not territorial.

Habitat and Geographical Distribution:

What kind of habitat do lions live in?

African lions are found in sub-saharan Africa with 80% of their population living in eastern or southern Africa. African lions prefer to live in grasslands and savanna’s; they are found in the grassland of East Africa, the Kalahari Desert, and the south Sahara Desert. Once lions roamed throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe but due to their excessive hunting there population shrunk and now they are found in Africa and Northwest India.

Which habitat do grizzly bears prefer?

Grizzly bears live in a variety of habitats; they can be found in woodlands, alpine meadows, prairies, forests. Grizzly bears are native to North America; they are found in Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, South Colorado, and Western Canada.

Diet:

What kinds of food do lions eat?

Lion’s diet includes large animals like giraffes, wild buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, impala, etc. Lions usually hunt with pride; they take care of their pride members too, if any member of the pride gets injured or wounded the food is provided to it. The dominant lion rarely participates in the hunting as the hunt is mainly done by the females; the male lion takes whatever it wants after the kill.

What do Grizzly eat?

Grizzly bears are omnivores; they can eat anything which provides energy and nutrition. Their diet varies depending on season and availability of food sources. They extensively eat fruits, berries, nuts, tubers in summer and autumn. They also prey upon small mammals, rodents as well as big animals like white-tailed deer, musk deer, elk, caribou, moose, etc.

Amazing Fun Facts for kids:

Some interesting facts about bears?

• Grizzly bears hibernate during winter During that time they don’t eat, drink, urinate or defecate.
• They remain in their dens for about 150-210 days.
• The hump on a grizzly bear’s back is a huge muscle.
• Prizzly bears” and “grolar bears” are hybrids. occurred both in captivity and in the wild.

Some interesting facts about lions?

• Male lion’s roar can be heard up to 8 kilometers.
• Lions are the only cats that live in groups.
• Lions scent mark their territory using urination or wee to create a border.
• Female lions are the main hunters Male adult Lions usually don’t hunt.

Do bears Hibernate? what is torpor?

Contrary to common belief, bears do not hibernate. bears do slow down during the winter and appear subconscious or inactive , unlike woodchucks they are not true hibernators. Instead, bears enter a state what is called torpor. Torpor is basically a state of physical plus mental inactivity or lethargy. it involves physiological changes related especially to body temperature, water balance and metabolism while in true hibernation,

Likewise an organism undergoing hibernation spends the winter in a state of dormancy. They sleep throughout winter and doesn’t respond to loud noises even if they are moved or touched. In contrast, a bear in torpor can wake up quickly and consequently when it hears sounds and voices. So torpor is a prolonged sleep state during the coldest days of winter when food is especially scarce. squirrels, skunks, chipmunks, raccoons and some bears are among the animals that go into torpor.

Battle: Animal Duel: Who would win?

The possibility of the natural encounter of the African lion and grizzly bear is close to nil as they both live in different halves of the world. But if a battle happens between these two it would be the most exciting and interesting one. As male bears are solitary, they roam alone but they may encounter a single lion or a pride of lions. In case, if it meets the pride it would be slightly difficult for the bear to win as the agile and fast group of lions can hurt bear much. In one on one fight between a male bear and an adult lion; there is a very slim chance for lion to win. Grizzly bear has sharp-clawed large paws which can fracture the lion’s skull in just a blow. Hence, we predict grizzly bear as the winner of this duel.

Comparison Chart: African Lion vs Grizzly Bear

Comparison Heads	African Lion	Grizzly Bear
Kingdom	Animalia	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata	Chordata
Class	Cernivora	Carnivora
Order	Feliformia	Therapside
Family	Felidae	Ursidae
Genus	Panthera	Ursus
Species	P. Leo	U. arctos
Found in	Sub-Saharan Africa	North America
Weight	331-550 lbs (males), 243-401 (females)	Weight between 700-1700 lbs
Body Length	5.5-8.3 feet (males), 4.5-5.5 feet( females)	8 feet when standing on hind legs
Lifespan	12-15 years in wild; in captivity can live up to 30 years	22 years (females), 26 years ( male)

Comparison Video: Lion vs Grizzly Bear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmuxzG5SDIs

FAQ’S: Frequently Asked Questions