Five Possibly Surprising Facts About Lions 

* All wild lions (Panthera leo leo) live in Africa except for a small population of Asian lions (Panthera leo persica) that live in and around the Gir Forest National Park in India.

* The average male lion weighs about 420 pounds. The average female weighs about 280 pounds.

* Most, but not all, male lions have manes. They get longer with age. Manes tend to protect them from the intense African heat.

* Lions are big eaters, able to eat up to a quarter of their body weight in a single feeding.

* There aren’t as many lions today as there were when Tarzan was in the movies. About 80 to 100 years ago, their population in Africa was in the hundreds of thousands. Today, it is dangerously low at only about 23,000.

Four Possibly Surprising Facts About Scavengers 

* Scavengers are animals that feed on decaying organic matter, and are divided into sub-groups depending on what they eat. Vultures are in the sub-group that feeds on dead animals. Squirrels and racoons are in the sub-group that feeds on refuse.

* Scavengers play a role in the ecological system by reducing the accumulation of decaying matter.

* There is such a thing as a scavenger insect. Burying beetles and vulture bees are two examples.

* Some scientists believe that Tyrannosaurus Rex was a scavenger that preyed on hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, and juvenile sauropods.