By now, most people know the story of the Lion King, whether it’s from the beloved Disney animated film or its recent live-action remake. But as beautiful and touching as that story is, it doesn’t mean it’s also educational.
If it were based on real-life lion prides, the male lions would not be the center of the story. The females would.
Lion “Queen” Would Be More Appropriate
According to National Geographic, a lion pride is “all-female all the time.” It’s the females who hunt, protect the territory, and take care of the cubs until they grow up. Male lions are transitory, which means they don’t stick around the pride for a long time, and there’s a pretty good reason for that.
Male lions won’t even stay in the pride they were born in, because they are related to all the other lions in the pride. So instinctively, for the sake of genetic diversity, male lions will only remain in the pride long enough to teach male cubs how to hunt, then leave. At the same time, when male lions grow up, they will also leave the pride.
For females, there is a different dynamic. Female cubs will not be thrown out of the pride when they grow up, and can potentially stay there for the rest of their lives. The only issue that emerges here is if the pride gets too big, and it becomes more difficult to bring food for everyone.
But even then, the lions take care of their own. The young lions will not be kicked out of the pride, but the mothers will help them establish new prides nearby.
Over to You
Nobody said Disney movies are meant to be more educational than entertaining, but boy did they get the lion dynamic wrong.
By now, most people know the story of the Lion King, whether it’s from the beloved Disney animated film or its recent live-action remake. But as beautiful and touching as that story is, it doesn’t mean it’s also educational.
If it were based on real-life lion prides, the male lions would not be the center of the story. The females would.
Lion “Queen” Would Be More Appropriate
According to National Geographic, a lion pride is “all-female all the time.” It’s the females who hunt, protect the territory, and take care of the cubs until they grow up. Male lions are transitory, which means they don’t stick around the pride for a long time, and there’s a pretty good reason for that.
Male lions won’t even stay in the pride they were born in, because they are related to all the other lions in the pride. So instinctively, for the sake of genetic diversity, male lions will only remain in the pride long enough to teach male cubs how to hunt, then leave. At the same time, when male lions grow up, they will also leave the pride.
For females, there is a different dynamic. Female cubs will not be thrown out of the pride when they grow up, and can potentially stay there for the rest of their lives. The only issue that emerges here is if the pride gets too big, and it becomes more difficult to bring food for everyone.
But even then, the lions take care of their own. The young lions will not be kicked out of the pride, but the mothers will help them establish new prides nearby.
Over to You
Nobody said Disney movies are meant to be more educational than entertaining, but boy did they get the lion dynamic wrong.
