The great debate (Why is the Lion always sleep)

[LaurenT]

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.

They do tweak....I remember a cast member telling me that those rocks they're always lounging on are either cooled or heated to make the lions want to hang out there....
But why would they intentionally overfeed them to keep them asleep? That makes no sense...WDW wants us to be excited with the ride..and that means active lions.

 

[Order66]

Here are a couple more, taken 6/1/11. I was really happy to see him awake too. LOL

 

[jade1]

 

[cvjw]

My family always jokes when we ride the safari ride and the lion is always asleep that he is just another animatronic animal, like all of the animals on the jungle cruise!

On another note, we got up close and personal with a lion at Busch Gardens, Tampa one time. He came right up to the glass to see my young son - around 4 at the time. For some reason, the lion didn't like him too much, he peed on the glass right in front of him. It was a little freaky - to see a huge lion trying to pee on your young son.

 

[PHXscuba]

Jade1, great picture with the lion backlit like that!

Gotta love it when "experts" weigh in. DH was a zoology major -- he's fun to take to the zoo but it's hard for him to listen when well-meaning parents spout off with their animal "knowledge."

DH and I love big cats and thought we had seen just about every combo of animal behavior over the last 20 years, but I saw a male lion at a small zoo in Mexico that had my mouth agape. It was mid-morning and it must have been nearing feeding time, because he was awake, roaring, and running across his enclosure. Nothing like seeing that from a few feet away.

Off topic, I know they would never allow it in the US, but at that same zoo I got to hold a baby jaguar and my husband got to play with a juvenile tiger.

PHXscuba

 

[Pakey]

We were lucky enough to see Mr. Lion awake, standing and repeatedly roaring (not just grunting) one cold January morning.

We have not been lucky enough to see him doing his business with Mrs. Lion.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

PHX I can sympathize with your husband! I didn't go to school for zoology, I'm just a nerd who watches a lot of Animal Planet and NatGeo and Discovery channel. It drives me insane when people play "zookeeper" and spout off completely wrong information at zoo's and animal parks. I understand that not everyone studies animals and all that but I always want to drag them over to the plaques by the exhibits and say "See this? This big word says CROCODILE, not ALLIGATOR. They aren't from Florida, they're from Africa unless you've discovered another Nile River in the Southern US! They aren't "big slow breathing logs", but if you really believe that, go in and play with them and see how fast they really are" Sorry, got off on a tangent there. For what its worth, I've never seen the male lion standing, just the females...but I have seen him roll over.

 

[TheGoofster]

We went twice our last trip.

The first day - sure enough sound asleep:

But the second time we went:

It's definitely more fun when old Leo is actually awake.

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

I regret reading this thread....now I have "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" stuck in my head!

Me Too !

In the Jungle - The Mighty Jungle - The Lion Sleeps Tonight .....

LOL !

 

[terbethk]

We got a couple of both of them.
From Oct 27, 2010, at about 9:15 AM

 

[fishacura]

Wimoweh - wimoweh - wimoweh - wimoweh

wimoweh - wimoweh - wimoweh - wimoweh

 

[HockeyMomNH]

Don't have a picture, but totally off topic--HockeyMomNH those Disney cakes are AMAZING! You have an incredible talent!

Thank you!

I should not have come back to this thread. Now I'm going to be singng Lion King songs all day!

 

[Nadjalu]

On our last trip (feb 2011) the male lion was up and creating quite a show for the trucks.
Take a look....

We loved seeing him up and active. The driver even stopped while he was moving. She said "we're not suppose to, but he sleeps most of the time, it is a treat to see him up and moving".
When he finished roaring, he bowed his head down and stared at the truck for about 45secs and then started walking away.
I must say to see him really focus on the truck was intimidating!!!

 

[tink20]

Great pics, thanks for sharing, he is beautiful. He has always been asleep when we went.

 

[TriMickey]

I thought it’s because Lion nocturnal hunters and that’s why they sleep most of the day. Although I don’t know how active these lions at Disney are at night, I know there not hunting so they should be up right

http://www.africaguide.com/wildlife/lion.htm

But I agree, I have never seen them up female nor the male

 

[The_Alice]

I regret reading this thread....now I have "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" stuck in my head!

You too huh?

 

[TriMickey]

Sure looks like he had a rough night

 

[Sneezie]

Awesome picture!

 

[willowsnn3]

Our first 3 trips I swore there was no lion at all as we never saw him, lol. On our more recent trips we have seen him every time. Sometimes awake/sometimes sleeping.

 

[MrsLS]

We've seen him up lots of time & last time or the time before he roared. We always do the safari first thing in the morning.