ion has the Fangs, the Tongue, the Claws, and the Paws of a Cat_

You will remember what I said on page 66: that all animals of the Cat
Tribe have a special kind of fangs, tongue, claws, and paws. The lion,
too, has that special kind of fangs, tongue, claws, and paws; so he is a
true cat. And of course the lioness has them also; so she too is a cat.

Now I shall describe these four things as possessed by the lion--or
lioness.

First, the fangs. The lion or lioness has two pairs of strong fangs--one
pair in the upper jaw, pointing downward, the other pair in the lower
jaw, pointing upward. The lion uses these fangs in the same way that the
tiger does, to hold down or to drag his prey.

[Illustration: African Lion

Photograph from the American Museum of Natural History, New York]

Also, in chewing his food, the lion uses his fangs in the same manner
that the tiger does. The lion, too, has ordinary teeth, besides the
fangs. So the meat lies on the lower teeth, and the upper fangs come
down on the meat and pierce it. And just like the tiger, the lion, too,
needs to chew his food only a few times, as the lion also has a strong
digestion.

But in one thing the lion uses his fangs in a different manner from the
tiger. In killing a weak prey, such as a deer or an antelope, _the lion
usually bites it with his fangs on the back of the neck_. The tiger
seldom kills his prey in that manner. As you will remember, the tiger
usually kills an animal by striking it with his paw; and if he uses his
fangs at all to kill the prey, he seizes it by the _throat_ and bites it
there, not at the back of the neck.

The second catlike quality that the lion has is that his tongue is
rough. He can use his tongue, as the tiger does, to scrape off small
pieces of meat from a bone.

The third quality of the lion like that of other cats is that the lion's
claws also are retractile: that is, the lion can draw in his claws, or
thrust them out, just as he pleases.

The fourth quality the lion has like all other felines is that his paws
also are padded with thick muscles underneath. So the lion, too, can
stalk his prey silently, or harden the muscles to strike down and stun
the prey with his paw, or use the muscles like springs in leaping--as I
have already described to you on pages 71-72. The lion can run with a
series of leaps or bounds, like any other feline.

But there is a fifth quality which all felines have, though I did not
mention it b