Reproduction

Mating of a lion and a lioness.
Lions reach sexual maturity and social at the age of three or four years, their physiological maturity at 30 months for males and 24 months for femelles. There is no defined breeding season. To check the fertility of a female, the male uses the Jacobson's organ, located on the palate, with the inner surface of the nose. To do so, the lion is the upper lip and opens its mouth. This process is called Flehmen.

Even if a male gets to the top of the hierarchy, it can not reproduce with a female with her consent. It's turning around, as they rolled to his feet, rubbing his head against her neck, the female produces the dominant male. She gets on his stomach and raises the rump; this position, called lordosis, allows the male better penetration. During mating, lions guard the female's neck in his mouth and bites her neck. This guard instinctively calm the male penis is covered with spiny protuberances and when it withdraws, it is assumed that the lioness is in pain. Thus she protested with a roar and turns frequently against him in an aggressive posture. It is the penetration triggers the spawning of eggs that are fertilized by sperm  If a lioness agrees to reproduce, they will mate every fifteen minutes, until fifty times a day, in which case Each report takes about thirty seconds, until the female estrus, which lasts only four jours or termine

After a gestation period of about four mois, the lioness, hidden away from the group gives birth to a quatre cubs, blind, from 1.1 to 1.37 kg. During their first six weeks of life environ, they will qu'allaités by the mother in the cache by its four mammary glands. If the latter is quite remote from the group, only the mother goes out hunting. Sometimes the young remain until 48 hours alone in the cache which can be dangerous, particularly because of hyenas and many other predators. After three to four semaines, the lioness brings its young in the group and they mingle with other cubs. Acceptance issues are rare.

From that moment, the young lions suck not only their mother, but also other lionesses, so that education is for all the females in the group. Around the age of six mois, the cubs are weaned, they are still about two years from their mère.

The lifespan of a lion rises from twelve to fourteen years in the wild, rarely more than twenty years. However, only the females reach a certain age. The males are usually killed by a younger competitor or, after a long wandering, no longer find a group and starving. However, some lions lived in the zoo until the age of 29 years.

Some observers reported that two lions or lionesses could also interact with each other and show signs of homosexuality. In nature, about 8% of intercourse takes place between lions, while lions homosexual activity, however, are observable in captivite