African Lions - Disney Animals

Spot regal African lions on the grasslands of the Kilimanjaro Safaris attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom park. Or, take a Savor the Savanna safari and see the big cats in action at night.

You can also encounter lions and other creatures during a thrilling 3-hour Wild Africa Trek.

African Lions in the Wild
Though lions are called the “King of the Jungle,” they don’t actually live in jungles or rainforests. Instead, lions live on the flat, grassy savannas of Sub-Saharan Africa, from the Serengeti plains all the way to South Africa.

Unlike most cats, lions are highly social, living in family groups (prides) that are ruled and protected by a dominant male. Prides typically consist of 20 to 30 lions, most of them closely related females and their cubs.

We take pride in caring for our lions. The lion habitats at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park are designed to feel as authentic and wild as possible, with open places, large trees for shade and cover, tall grasses and sweeping views—like a true African savanna.

Animal Enrichment
Our lions are given opportunities to display natural behaviors such as playing, stalking, running and scent-marking. Enrichment activities are designed to promote physical activity, stimulate problem-solving abilities and offer real choices.

Meatsicles and Aromatherapy
What could be more refreshing on a hot summer day than raw meat or fish frozen in a block of ice—a big-cat treat that keeps lions cool and also encourages them to use their teeth, claws and ingenuity to get to the treat inside. To promote stalking and hunting behaviors and provide exercise, super-tough plastic balls are stuffed with the lions’ favorite scents—cinnamon, clove and pumpkin pie.

Veterinary Care and Animal Training
World-class care is a top priority at Disney. Sound cues are used to move lions from their on-show habitat spaces to their night housing, where they can voluntarily step onto a scale to be weighed and participate in their own preventive health exams.

The Walt Disney Company is passionately committed to the protection of lions and their natural habitats.

Threats to African Lions
Lions are territorial animals. The hunting grounds for a pride of lions are typically 8 square miles (20 km2). But their domain is shrinking. Habitat loss created by droughts, soil erosion, overgrazing and human expansion is causing lion populations in the wild to decline in alarming numbers.

Livestock Conflicts
As human populations grow in Africa, people push farther into lion country. For many, livestock is their livelihood, their source of food and money. Losing a single goat or cow to a lion attack can be devastating to a family. As a result, people often kill lions to protect their livestock.

Preserving African Habitats
Our conservation efforts are helping to protect and preserve lions in their natural habitats and across the globe. Since 1995, the Disney Conservation Fund has helped advance lion conservation efforts in 8 countries.

Reducing Conflicts
Disney’s support has helped reduce lion attacks on livestock in Tanzania, expanded education for students in Uganda and taught students about lions in Kenya. It has also helped to encourage sustainable tourism enterprises.

Protect the Pride
In celebration of the 2019 release of Disney’s The Lion King, the groundbreaking feature film helmed by Jon Favreau, The Walt Disney Company launched a global conservation campaign to raise awareness and support for the dwindling lion population across Africa. The Lion King “Protect the Pride” campaign focuses on protecting and revitalizing the lion population, which dropped by half in just 25 years due to a variety of threats including poaching and destruction of habitats.