African Marriage Painting

Inks & Mixed Media on 50cm x 130cm Canvas. Medium to heavy texture. Lions are the largest of the ‘big cats’ at approx. 4-foot high, over 7-foot long and up to 500lbs in weight. Most tend to be tawny yellow-brown in colour, although black manes and tail tufts are not unusual. Unlike most big cats, lions are not usually solitary, they live in ‘prides’ that consist of several related lionesses and their cubs and the 2 or 3 adult males, usually brothers or at least pride mates, who rule the territory and the pride. Lions are the laziest of the big cats, spending up to 20 hours a day sleeping in the shade, the adult males being the laziest of them all, letting the lionesses do 90% of the pride’s hunting. In return for ‘protecting’ the lionesses, the males take first go at the meat from the kills, which is usually the majority of the meat. Hunting is mainly done at night, although not exclusively, and is only successful about 50% of the time. Scavenging can provide more than half their diet, as they will steal kills from less powerful predators whenever they get the opportunity. Lions are ‘obligate carnivores’, which means that they can only really live on meat. If a lion wins the fight with another pride male and therefore takes over a new pride, he will often kill the cubs in this pride, in order to bring the lionesses back into heat. This removes the old male’s progeny and lets the new one start spreading his own genes all in one go. When a lioness comes into heat, a male will become her constant companion for the next few days, during which the two will mate every 15 minutes or so, over those few days. After a gestation period of 105 days, lionesses give birth to 2 or 3 cubs that weigh approx. 3lbs at birth. Young lions are old enough to hunt effectively at about 2 years of age; the females will usually stay with the pride, the males will leave when the mature pride males decide they are becoming a threat. At around 5 or 6 years of age these males then start challenging other pride males to try to win themselves the right to mate and pass on their genes.

Painting:Acrylic on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:51.2 W x 19.7 H x 1.8 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.