Male Lion with Open Facial Wound
I saw several male lions in Serengeti National Park and, as I recall, they all had some wound and/or scars on their faces. This guy was the worst though. The wound under his right eye looks like it could be serious. He has lost all his skin over the area and I’m wondering if flies might lay eggs in the wound. On the other hand, I’ve seen TV documentaries where lions had worse wounds and they recovered. I hope this guy makes it. I don’t know how old he is, but he has some other problems. There is something wrong with his upper lip. The two sides of his upper lip don’t come together and you can see several of his upper and lower teeth. Plus, based on another photo, I don’t think he has his upper left fang and his lower left fang is broken and black in the center which may indicate an exposed nerve and/or infection. Life in the wild is tough – even if you’re a male lion.
On the other hand, we saw him mating with one of the females in his pride, so he’s still king of his area of the Serengeti.
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