Lion

The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a
member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg (550 lb) in
weight,
[4]
it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. Wild lions currently exist
in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia with a critically endangered remnant population
in Gir Forest National Park in India, having disappeared from North Africa and
Southwest Asia in historic times. Until the late Pleistocene, about 10,000 years
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 the Yukon to Peru.
[5]

Lions live for ten to fourteen years in the wild, while in captivity they can live
longer than twenty years. In the wild, males seldom live longer than ten years, as
injuries sustained from continual fighting with rival males greatly reduce their
longevity.
[6]
They typically inhabit savanna and grassland, although they may take
to bush and forest. Lions are unusually social compared 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 large ungulates.
Lions are apex and keystone predators, although they scavenge as opportunity
allows. While lions do not typically hunt humans, some have been known to do so.
The lion is a vulnerable species, having seen a possibly irreversible population
decline of thirty to fifty percent over the past two decades in its African range.
[7]

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. Lions have been kept in
menageries since Roman times and have been a key species sought for exhibition
in zoos the world over since the late eighteenth century. Zoos are cooperating
worldwide in breeding programs for the endangered Asiatic subspecies.
Tiger

The tiger (Panthera tigris) is a member of the Felidae family and the largest of the
four "big cats" in the genus Panthera.
[4]
Native to much of eastern and southern
Asia, the tiger is an apex predator and an obligate carnivore. Reaching up to
3.3 metres (11 ft) in total length, weighing up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds), and
having canines up to 4 inches long,
[5]
the larger tiger subspecies are comparable in
size to the biggest extinct felids.
[6][7]
Aside from their great bulk and power, their
most recognisable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes that overlays near-
white to reddish-orange fur, with lighter underparts. The most numerous tiger
subspecies is the Bengal tiger while the largest subspecies is the Siberian tiger.
Tigers have a lifespan of 1015 years in the wild, but can live longer than 20 years
in captivity.
[8]
They are highly adaptable and range from the Siberian taiga, to open
grasslands, to tropical mangrove swamps. They are territorial and generally
solitary animals, often requiring large contiguous areas of habitat that support their
prey demands. This, coupled with the fact that they are indigenous to some of the
more densely populated places on earth, has caused significant conflicts with
humans. Of the nine subspecies of modern tiger, three are extinct and the
remaining six are classified as endangered, some critically so. The primary direct
causes are habitat destruction and fragmentation, and hunting. Their historical
range once stretched from Mesopotamia and the Caucasus through most of South
and East Asia. Today it has been radically reduced. While all surviving species are
under formal protection, poaching, habitat destruction and inbreeding depression
continue to threaten the species.
Tigers are among the most recognisable and popular of the world's charismatic
megafauna. They have featured prominently in ancient mythology and folklore,
and continue to be depicted in modern films and literature. Tigers appear on many
flags and coats of arms, as mascots for sporting teams, and as the national animal
of several Asian nations, including India.
[9]

Shark

Sharks (superorder Selachimorpha) are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous
skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more
than 420 million years ago, before the time of the dinosaurs.
[1]

Since that time, sharks have diversified into 440 species, ranging in size from the
small dwarf lanternshark, Etmopterus perryi, a deep sea species of only
17 centimetres (6.7 in) in length, to the whale shark, Rhincodon typus, the largest
fish, which reaches approximately 12 metres (39 ft 4 in) and which feeds only on
plankton, squid, and small fish by filter feeding. Sharks are found in all seas and
are common down to depths of 2,000 metres (6,562 ft). They generally do not live
in freshwater, with a few exceptions such as the bull shark and the river shark
which can live both in seawater and freshwater.
[2]
They breathe through five to
seven gill slits. Sharks have a covering of dermal denticles that protect their skin
from damage and also have parasites that improve their fluid dynamics so the shark
can move faster. They have several sets of replaceable teeth.
[3]

Well-known species such as the great white shark, tiger shark, and the
hammerhead are apex predators, at the top of the underwater food chain. Their
extraordinary skills as predators fascinate and frighten humans, even as their
survival is under serious threat from fishing and other human activities.

Anaconda

"Anaconda" is often used to refer only to the green anaconda, Eunectes murinus.
Anacondas are large, nonvenomous boas of the genus Eunectes. They are found in
tropical South America.
The most familiar species is the green anaconda, "Eunectes murinus", notable for
being one of the world's largest snakes. Green anacondas can grow to be 5.21 m
(17 ft) in length and weighing 97.5 kg (215 lb).
[1]
They are found east of the Andes
in Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and on the
island of Trinidad.
Other anacondas are the yellow anaconda, Eunectes notaeus, a smaller species
found in eastern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay and northeastern Argentina;
and the dark-spotted anaconda, "Eunectes deschauenseei", a rare species found in
northeastern Brazil, coastal French Guiana and Guyana.
All three species are aquatic snakes that prey on other aquatic animals, including
fish, river fowl, caiman, and capybaras. Some accounts exist of anacondas preying
on domestic animals such as goats
[citation needed]
and ponies
[citation needed]
that venture
too close to the water.
While encounters between people and anacondas may be dangerous, they do not
regularly hunt humans. Nevertheless, threat from anacondas is a familiar trope in
comics, movies and adventure stories set in the Amazon jungle. Anacondas have
also figured prominently in South American folklore, where they are sometimes
depicted as shapeshifting mythical creatures called encantados. Local communities
and some European explorers have given accounts of giant anacondas, legendary
snakes of much greater proportion than any confirmed specimen.

Wolf

The grey wolf (Canis lupus), often known simply as the wolf, is the largest wild
member of the Canidae family. Though once abundant over much of Eurasia and
North America, the grey wolf inhabits a reduced portion of its former range due to
widespread destruction of its territory, human encroachment, and the resulting
human-wolf encounters that sparked broad extirpation. Even so, the grey wolf is
regarded as being of least concern for extinction by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature, when the entire grey wolf population is considered as a
whole. Today, wolves are protected in some areas, hunted for sport in others, or
may be subject to extermination as perceived threats to livestock and pets.
Grey wolves are social predators that live in nuclear families consisting of a mated
pair which monopolises food and breeding rights, followed by their biological
offspring and, occasionally, adopted subordinates. They primarily feed on
ungulates, which they hunt by wearing them down in short chases. Grey wolves are
typically apex predators throughout their range, with only humans and tigers
posing significant threats to them.
DNA sequencing and genetic drift studies reaffirm that the grey wolf shares a
common ancestry with the domestic dog. A number of other grey wolf subspecies
have been identified, though the actual number of subspecies is still open to
discussion.
In areas where human cultures and wolves are sympatric, wolves frequently feature
in the folklore and mythology of those cultures, both positively and negatively.