A Lioness Resting in the vicinity of Savute Elephant Camp, Chobe National Park, Botswana (photo)

A lioness rests while tourists on 4x4 are photographing her, in the vicinity of Camp Savute Elephant Camp by Orient Express in Botswana in the Chobe National Park . The lion (Panthera leo) is a carnivorous mammal of the Felidae family and one of the species of the genus Panthera. Some males , exceptionally large , weigh up to 250 kg , making them the second -largest living cat after the tiger . Wild lions live in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia with a critically endangered population in northwest India , having disappeared from North Africa , the Middle East and western Asia in the past. Until the late Pleistocene , about 10 000 years ago , the lion was the most widespread after humans. They were found in most of Africa , much of Eurasia from western Europe to India , and America, from the Yukon to southern Mexico . If they survive childhood difficulties , lionesses living in a secure habitat such as Kruger National Park can often reach the age of 12-14 years , whereas lions seldom live more than eight years. However, cases of lionesses are known to have lived twenty years in the wild . In captivity , both males and females can live over twenty years. Photographed in 2013