"African Lion" Black Serpentine Stone Sculpture Hand carved in Zimbabwe!

"African Lion" Black Serpentine Stone Sculpture Hand carved in Zimbabwe! Product Description An exquisite sculpture of an African Lion from Zimbabwe in black serpentine. In the Shona language Lion is known as Shumba and represents the pinnacle of predators in Zimbabwe. These pieces are hand sculpted using unsophisticated tools over many hours.Serpentine is a hard stone with a rating of 4.0-5.0 on mohs hardness scale. Black iron serpentine derives it's name from the deposits of iron found in it and is one of the hardest and darkest stones found in Zimbabwe. It has the most amazing black lusterless finish that resembles the black opal and is highly sought after because of it's fine finish, durability and hardness.The detail in this is tremendous.Gallery retail on this would be over $400.Read more about Shona sculpture below and how it is unique to Zimbabwe. Thanks for looking and helping to support the artists. Lion From Wikipedia: Thelion(Panthera leo) is one of the fourbig catsin thegenusPanthera, and a member of the familyFelidae. With some males exceeding 250kg (550lb) in weight,it is the second-largest living cat after thetiger. Wild lions currently exist insub-Saharan Africaand inAsia, with anendangeredremnant population inGir Forest National ParkinIndia, having disappeared fromNorth AfricaandSouthwest Asiain historic times. Until the latePleistocene, about 10,000years ago, the lion was the most widespread large land mammal after humans. They were found in most of Africa, across Eurasia from western Europe to India, and in the Americas from theYukontoPeru.The lion is avulnerable species, having seen a major population decline of 30?50% over the past two decades in its African range.Lion populations are untenable outside designated reserves and national parks. Although the cause of the decline is not fully understood, habitat loss and conflicts with humans are currently the greatest causes of concern. Within Africa, theWest African lionpopulation is particularly endangered. Lions live for 10?14 years in the wild, while in captivity they can live longer than 20 years. In the wild, males seldom live longer than 10 years, as injuries sustained from continual fighting with rival males greatly reduce their longevity.They typically inhabitsavannaandgrassland, although they may take tobushandforest. Lions are unusuallysocialcompared to other cats. A pride of lions consists of related females and offspring and a small number of adult males. Groups of female lions typically hunt together, preying mostly on largeungulates. Lions areapexandkeystone predators, although they scavenge as opportunity allows. While lions do not typically hunt humans, some have been known to do so. Sleeping mainly during the day, lions are primarilynocturnal, although bordering oncrepuscularin nature. Highly distinctive, the male lion is easily recognised by its mane, and its face is one of the most widely recognised animal symbols in humanculture. Depictions have existed from theUpper Paleolithicperiod, with carvings and paintings from theLascauxandChauvet Caves, through virtually all ancient and medieval cultures where they once occurred. It has been extensively depicted in sculptures, in paintings, on national flags, and in contemporary films and literature. Lions have been kept inmenageriessince the time of theRoman Empire, and have been a key species sought for exhibition inzoosover the world since the late 18th century. Zoos are cooperating worldwide in breeding programs for the endangeredAsiatic subspecies. Group organization Lions are the most socially inclined of all wildfelids, most of which remain quite solitary in nature. The lion is a predatorycarnivorewho manifest two types of social organization. Some areresidents,living in groups, calledprides.The pride usually consists of five or six related females, their cubs of both sexes, and one or two males (known as acoalitionif more than one) who mate with the adult females (although extremely large prides, consisting of up to 30 individuals, have been observed). The number of adult males in a coalition is usually two, but may increase to four and decrease again over time. Male cubs are excluded from their maternal pride when they reach maturity. Two lionesses and a mature male of a pride, northern Serengeti The second organizational behaviour is labelednomads, who range widely and move about sporadically, either singularly or in pairs.Pairs are more frequent among related males who have been excluded from their birth pride. Note that a lion may switch lifestyles; nomads may become residents and vice versa. Males have to go through this lifestyle and some never are able to join another pride. A female who becomes a nomad has much greater difficulty joining a new pride, as the females in a pride are related, and they reject most attempts by an unrelated female to join their family group. The area a pride occupies is called apride area, whereas that by a nomad is arange.The males associated with a pride tend to stay on the fringes, patrolling theirterritory. Whysociality?the most pronounced in any cat species?has developed in lionesses is the subject of much debate. Increased hunting success appears an obvious reason, but this is less than sure upon examination: coordinated hunting does allow for more successful predation, but also ensures that non-hunting members reduce per capita caloric intake, however, some take a role raising cubs, who may be left alone for extended periods of time. Members of the pride regularly tend to play the same role in hunts. The health of the hunters is the primary need for the survival of the pride and they are the first to consume the prey at the site it is taken. Other benefits include possiblekin selection(better to share food with a related lion than with a stranger), protection of the young, maintenance of territory, and individual insurance against injury and hunger. Video of a lion in the wild Lionesses do the majority of the hunting for their pride, being smaller, swifter and more agile than the males, and unencumbered by the heavy and conspicuous mane, which causes overheating during exertion. They act as a co-ordinated group in order to stalk and bring down the prey successfully. However, if nearby the hunt, males have a tendency to dominate the kill once the lionesses have succeeded. They are more likely to share with the cubs than with the lionesses, but rarely share food they have killed by themselves. Smaller prey is eaten at the location of the hunt, thereby being shared among the hunters; when the kill is larger it often is dragged to the pride area. There is more sharing of larger kills,although pride members often behave aggressively toward each other as each tries to consume as much food as possible. Both males and females defend the pride against intruders. Some individual lions consistently lead the defence against intruders, while others lag behind.Lions tend to assume specific roles in the pride. Those lagging behind may provide other valuable services to the group.An alternative hypothesis is that there is some reward associated with being a leader who fends off intruders and the rank of lionesses in the pride is reflected in these responses.The male or males associated with the pride must defend their relationship to the pride from outside males who attempt to take over their relationship with the pride. Females form the stablesocial unitin a pride and do not tolerate outside females;membership only changes with the births and deaths of lionesses,although some females do leave and become nomadic.Subadult males on the other hand, must leave the pride when they reach maturity at around 2?3 years of age. Hunting and diet While a lioness such as this one has very sharp teeth, prey is usually killed by strangulation Lions are powerful animals that usually hunt in coordinated groups and stalk their chosen prey. However, they are not particularly known for their stamina?for instance, a lioness' heart makes up only 0.57 percent of her body weight (a male's is about 0.45 percent of his body weight), whereas a hyena's heart is close to 1 percent of its body weight.Thus, they only run fast in short bursts,and need to be close to their prey before starting the attack. They take advantage of factors that reduce visibility; many kills take place near some form of cover or at night.[73]They sneak up to the victim until they reach a distance of around 30metres (98ft) or less. The lioness is the one who does the hunting for the pride, since the lioness is more aggressive by nature. The male lion usually stays and watches its young while waiting for the lionesses to return from the hunt. Typically, several lionesses work together and encircle the herd from different points. Once they have closed with a herd, they usually target the closest prey. The attack is short and powerful; they attempt to catch the victim with a fast rush and final leap. The prey usually is killed bystrangulation,which can causecerebral ischemiaorasphyxia(which results inhypoxemic, or "general",hypoxia). The prey also may be killed by the lion enclosing the animal's mouth and nostrils in its jaws(which would also result in asphyxia). Smaller prey, though, may simply be killed by a swipe of a lion's paw. Lioness in a burst of speed while hunting in the Serengeti Thepreyconsists mainly of large mammals, with a preference forwildebeest,impalas,zebras,buffalo, andwarthogsin Africa andnilgai,wild boar, and severaldeerspecies in India. Many other species are hunted, based on availability. Mainly this will includeungulatesweighing between 50 and 300kg (110?660lb) such askudu,hartebeest,gemsbok, andel