The Masai Lion is a subspecies of the African Lion, it is common (to which its name refers) in the "Masai Mara

Masai Mara

The Maasai Mara National Reserve is a large game reserve in south-western Kenya, which is effectively the northern continuation of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania...

" game reserve in Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, Africa.

Etymology

The lion's name, similar in many Romance languages

Romance languages

The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...

, is derived from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 ; and the Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

  . The Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 word may also be related. It was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus, who gave it the name Felis leo, in his eighteenth century work, Systema Naturae

Systema Naturae

The book was one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carolus Linnaeus. The first edition was published in 1735...

.

Size

Male masai lions are generally 1.7–2.5 m (5.6–8.2 ft) long including the tail. Lionesses are generally smaller, at only 1.6–1.9 m (5.2–6.2 ft). In weight, males are generally 150–240 kg (330.7–529.1 lb), and females are 120–180 kg (264.6–396.8 lb). Lions, male or female, have a shoulder height of 1.1–1.2 m (3.6–3.9 ft).

Mane

When male lions reach maturity, most grow manes. The manes are to make them look bigger during confrontation, and to protect their neck.