Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Nature/Cats/King of beasts

The lion is known as the king of the beasts. This goes back as far as recorded history, for the Greek word for lion is translated as king in Latin. The lion gets this distinction because it fears no other animal. It is also said that the lion is named king of the beasts because of its courage and loyalty. Its courage cannot be doubted, but a lion is not particularly loyal. Male lions are known to take over another male's pride of females by chasing away (or killing) the resident male(s). They often form coalitions of two to five males and work together to oust other males. When they succeed in doing this, they then kill any cubs in the pride so that the females will be receptive to breeding sooner. The females sometimes attempt to defend their cubs, but this is rarely met with success. These coalitions of males do not limit their activities to a single pride either. A coalition may dominate several prides within their range. Not exactly a model of loyalty! (But then again, neither are human kings).