Today, 10 August, has been declared World Lion Day and is our opportunity to consider this mighty animal and to reflect on man’s impact on this beast and his environment.
Lions have made their appearances in all countries and all cultures throughout history. Sekhmet the Egyptian goddess has the head of a lioness; Maahes is the Egyptian lion god of war; Yali the mythological Hindu character bears a lion’s head; lions are depicted in the ancient cave paintings at Lascaux in France. Moving to more recent times, we are all familiar with Aslan, Simba and the Cowardly Lion.
“Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Politicians, writers and other people of note frequently cite lions as examples of strength, courage, pride and decisiveness.
It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion’s heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.
-Winston Churchill
Barely a city in the world does not display a sculpture, painting, carving or other depiction of a lion.
Sadly, for all our interest in these proud animals, we haven’t treated them well and population numbers have decreased dramatically even in my lifetime. Asiatic lions were once found throughout Asia, and as far west as Greece, but are now on the verge of extinction, with only about 300 living in northwestern India. Estimates of the number of African lions in the wild vary between 20,000 and 30,000, with very few of these living outside the designated national parks.
Travel with Intent 
That’s very sad. I hope we can repopulate our world with these great animals.
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Majestic big cats. Wonderfully illustrated facts about lions. The high school mascot of one of the schools I attended was the lion.
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What a great choice for a school mascot 🙂
On Sun, Aug 17, 2014 at 1:44 AM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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Magnificent and majestic is the lion. Great images.
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just beautiful. like your collection of lion motif, too.
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thank you!
On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 2:17 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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Majestic animals. It’s so sad that their numbers are declining.
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It’s scary to know that regal lions are declining in numbers. This a great way to let us know about World Lion Day.
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Hopefully more awareness will help their plight
On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 12:43 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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well captured lions of all kinds
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Your lions are quite interesting and diverse!
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I did hunt the archives for a while to get a good selection.
On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 9:38 AM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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Great post! Fine collection of lions.
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If I’m lion, I’m dying. If the habitat has room, without our logging inroads, hopefully the lions can make a come back. we get paranoid about foxes, wolves, lions and think they are a more dangerous animal than they are.
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Wonderful shots.
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Thanks for sharing and adding awareness to the plight of lions.
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very nice photos for Mosaic Monday
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A nice tribute for World Lion Day and thanks for linking to Mosaic Monday.
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A great post for World Lion Day! Lovely images.. Thanks for sharing!
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Beautiful lion shots – both of the real animal and the man made images.
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But I am afraid of lion 😦
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That’s good -it is dangerous to think they are cuddly 🙂
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Great animal, lovely shots.
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