The great debate (Why is the Lion always sleep)

[agame2323]

He was up pacing and roaring one morning this past January. It was very cool!

BINGO! I believe this is what I was looking for. Now what time of day was this?

 

[smitch425]

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Did you know that The Lion Sleeps Tonight was originally recorded as a song called "Mbube" (Zulu for Lion) in 1939?

Also, Google is your friend:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sthomasphotos/2556939720/
http://brimull.smugmug.com/Animals/...703_mHQVb/1/1099146457_BJkeS#1099146457_BJkeS

 

[sswally]

BINGO! I believe this is what I was looking for. Now what time of day was this?[/QUOTE]

This was about 8:30 in the morning in January (EMH morning). We always go as early as we can in the mornings, and I have seen him up a few different times, but this time was by far the most active I have seen him.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

On our first trip to Animal Kingdom, back in April 2001, we managed to snap a picture of one of the lionesses jumping from rock-to-rock. That was back in our pre-digital-camera days, so sorry, I can't share the pic. We were there very early in the morning.

 

[DisGirl819]

He's a cat...if you took a tour of my house every five minutes all day long you know what my cat would be doing? Sleeping. Cats are most awake in the morning and evening and that goes for lions too. Every big cat at every zoo sleeps during the day. I would say your friend is full of crap.

 

[+Rosetta+]

"Lions are mostly nocturnal, but can also be considered diurnal. Lions will spend 20 hours out of 24 sleeping or resting as a way to conserve energy. Lions become quite active in the afternoon, but do not actually begin hunting until late in the evening and then hunt late in the night-- they will find a place to sleep several hours after daybreak."Source

Lions really aren't known to be active to begin with, it's got nothing to do with his "Disney food schedule" or anything other than regular old hardwired lion behavior. It still is a rare sight to see him doing anything but laying around though, so congrats if you have

 

[TDC Nala]

We didn't get a picture but one morning during EMH Mr. Lion was very much awake and going after Ms. Lion. The safari driver had to turn off her mike and every adult on the safari was laughing and kids were asking their parents what the lions were doing...

Have seen that too! They are awake so little they must take advantage of the time they have.

That picture isn't going up on the board.

 

[Disney Khi]

I've seen him awake before, but I don't understand why this would be some big mystery to your friend. Cats sleep a lot. It's what they do.

 

[dragonfly57005]

When I read the post I immediately thought of the song...

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight...

So maybe he is just following the lyrics of the song?

 

[staceyhzoo]

We saw him last Oct move from one side of the rock to the other (it was the last ride before closing). As previously stated, lions are mostly nocturnal. Also, the males don't do nearly as much work as the females. The AK lion is a marathon runner compared to our lion at our state zoo. He gets up to follow the shade.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

We didn't get a picture but one morning during EMH Mr. Lion was very much awake and going after Ms. Lion. The safari driver had to turn off her mike and every adult on the safari was laughing and kids were asking their parents what the lions were doing...

We were on a tram tour of San Diego's Wild Animal Park and coming around a corner towards the rhinos. When we get around the corner, the tram guide pauses her narration and says "Oh, oh my, well, for those customers with small children, these are our white Rhinos, and they're playing piggyback!" I cracked up, best cover for it that I've heard!

 

[Otter49]

This is what you'll usually see late day toward the end of his shift.

 

[stnet]

Here are our pics from our Sept 09 trip these were taken in the morning before lunch after our breakfast at Tusker House I would guess around 10:30 am. The driver was so excited that he stopped the vehicle completely for several minutes so we could take pics. The lion was also "talking" to us making grunting noises. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. My girls who where 7 and 3 at the time still talk about it all the time!!!

 

[LaurenT]

I don't have a picture...but he was up and making quite a racket one morning. He was standing with his nose in the air and sort of grunting. Our driver said we were very lucky to see him doing something...
We also saw him getting his teeth cleaned during our honeymoon 12 years ago! It was the one day a year they bring him in for his check up...he was in the procedure room at conservation station.

 

[LaurenT]

Here are our pics from our Sept 09 trip these were taken in the morning before lunch after our breakfast at Tusker House I would guess around 10:30 am. The driver was so excited that he stopped the vehicle completely for several minutes so we could take pics. The lion was also "talking" to us making grunting noises. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. My girls who where 7 and 3 at the time still talk about it all the time!!!

WOW...I just posted a description of him doing exactly this and then saw your post...awesome photo!

 

[Always Dream]

I have definitely seen the lion awake and moving around, but no picture.

 

[MYD714]

This isn't a great photo, but this is what the lioness was doing as we turned the corner in 2001:

It was taken first thing in the morning on a hot July day.

 

[Rustysmom]

Here are our pics from our Sept 09 trip these were taken in the morning before lunch after our breakfast at Tusker House I would guess around 10:30 am. The driver was so excited that he stopped the vehicle completely for several minutes so we could take pics. The lion was also "talking" to us making grunting noises. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. My girls who where 7 and 3 at the time still talk about it all the time!!!

He was doing the same thing when we went in '08. It was awesome. I got video but no pictures.

 

[disnut8]

Bunch of *ahem* stuff. ALL cats sleep ALOT. I know - I have four of them right now. Lions are no different and sorry to say the males are even worse than the females. If anyone listens to the narrative on the Safari, cats sleep 18-20 hours a day. And the males of the lion pride don't really need to do anything - the females are the hunters.

But we have seen the male up and about while the female was sleeping. We've seen the male sleeping while the female was awake. We've seen them both sleeping. We've seen them both awake. We've been on the Safari from every time at the first two hours of opening to the last two hours of closing and every time in between.

Disney might tweak the environment a bit but I highly doubt they would adjust the food any animal gets.