Reasons Why Lions Are Regarded As King Of Beasts
One reason lions may have gotten this cultural cachet is the behaviour observed when a lion is visible to prey. Most prey in Africa act on what you can call an axiom, "A visible lion is a safe lion." This means that when a lion is seen beyond a certain minimum distance, prey animals will typically not attempt to flee it, because lions have poor running endurance owing to their undersized hearts and they typically will be able to escape it easily if it tries to reach them. Likewise, the typical lion is aware of this limitation and will not bother making a futile charge. So, what often happens in this situation is the prey animals will be milling about as if standing at attention, keeping an eye on the lion who looks like he is reviewing his troops like a king.
There is another possible explanation about the royal title. Let's remember lions have not always been exclusively African animals; they did live in temperate forests in the past, even in Ancient Greece. This means lions were around not far away from Aristotle, while other powerful wild animals such as elephants and tigers have always been exotic critters within the European point of view. In ancient Greek and Anatolian settings, the lion was easily the top predator, outstanding even wolves and brown bears (European bears outside Russia are much smaller than North American grizzlies and kodiaks): hence King of Beasts. Then the title became a meme and remained even when modern explorations made tigers, elephants and other exotic large mammals more familiar to general public and the European lions went extinct — the last lions in the Balkans have been (unreliably) sighted in the wild in the 14th century, but had vanished from the bulk of Europe well before that.
Other Kings (And Queens) Of Beasts From Around The World
However, not all people agree about the lion deserving the noble tin: Real Life lions have many potential enemies to look for. Adult elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, tigers, buffaloes, and Nile crocodiles
(and they avoid water due to the possibility of them being feasted on by crocodiles) are far too big and powerful to be killed by a solitary lion, and can kill in turn a fully-grown male lion more easily than the opposite. Meanwhile spotted hyenas, with their powerful crushing jaws, despite their reputation as humble scavengers, are actually feared by lions just like the latter are feared by hyenas, to the point that hyenas can actually defeat lions if they are in group. In addition, a popular misconception is that male lions are poor hunters due to the fact that the mane is supposedly a huge, impractical display structure; the lioness does most of the hunting. Given that male lions are kicked out of their pride at a young age, and must fend for themselves until they can take over a pride from another male, however, there's not much validity to this claim. Nonetheless, a male lion with a pride does typically leave the hunting to the lionesses, conserving his stamina in case he needs to either fight off rival lions or ward hyenas off either their own kill, or one made by his lionesses (although a male will still help with the lioness's hunt if extra muscle is needed to bring down bigger prey — for example, a herd of elephants won't consider lions a threat unless a male is present), and across much of its ancient range (from North Africa and the Balkans across the Levant, Mesopotamia, Arabia, and Persia to India, where elephants reappear), the lion was indisputably on top.
Interesting to note that many human cultures have or had a different hierarchical vision about the animal world. Some African people say the lion is the "king" but the elephant is God. In Indian tales, the elephant and the lion are often portrayed as they are contending their supremacy over all animals. In Europe before, and in some cases after, Christianization, it's the bear that is considered the lord of the beasts. The wolf has also had this reputation among other ancient European peoples (for example, in pre-Roman Italy). In Muslim traditions, the lion is respected (and there are a number of Arabic masculine names that mean "lion"), but it is the giraffe who is the "Queen of the Beasts" (for its elegance).
In many Eastern countries, the tiger often takes the role of the king of beasts despite having to compete with what Westerners call the "Chinese dragon". The tiger is often associated with the Earth (king of earthly beasts) and the dragon is associated with the Heavens (king of mythical beasts). The "Chinese lion", often outside Buddhist temples or homes as a protector of those inside, looks so unusual because lions were long since extinct in China when the Chinese first carved such statues; they have been theorized to be based on a kind of dog. Another points to the Jade Emperor origin stories of the zodiac of how the tiger became the king of beasts, as it was said that though the lion ruled first, the Jade Emperor disapproved of its tyranny and later bestowed the tiger with its title after showcasing acts of heroism throughout the natural world, with each deed as the black mark upon its head eventually forming the ideogram for king (王). This is the reason why Chinese tiger portrayals, also in the form of plushies and statues, are recognizable as being tigers for this ideogram on their forehead.
In pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, the jaguar had a similar status as the lion or tiger in the old world. Among the Maya, only rulers were allowed to wear jaguar pelts, and often incorporated the name "Jaguar" in their titles.
In the Bible (Book of Job) two animals are mentioned as "God's most powerful creatures", the Behemoth and the Leviathan. Some think both are real animals: the first one may be the hippopotamus, the latter is presumably some kind of large sea creature (Leviathan in modern Hebrew language means "whale", though it could also be a shark or a crocodile). In Dinosaur Media, Tyrannosaurus rex has a similar reputation; its name even means "tyrant lizard king". Some beliefs even conflate the dinosaurs with the aforementioned creatures.
The eagle is usually seen as the equivalent of this for birds, being the "King of Birds.", While sometime different birds like the Vulture take the Crown.
When you combine a lion (king of the beasts) and an eagle (king of the birds) in the same creature, you get a gryphon.
King Of The Jungle
The title "king of beasts" is often also rendered as "king of the jungle", even though lions live on the savannah, not in the jungle.note The fact that lions essentially never set foot in a jungle has done nothing to make this inaccurate version disappear. Though some quip that a lion can be the king of whatever he pleases, because are you going to argue with him?
