If you asked me for an accurate profile (pun intended!) of a lion when I was younger (and way before my first safari), I wouldn't have passed that test. I pictured a hunter, a stalker, an animal that all others feared. Maybe they did fear the lion, but it was the lioness that is actually the hunter—a fact I did not know at least until I was older.
I'm not a cat person...I'm a dog person. But I love this shot I took of a lioness in Botswana for so many reasons. Obviously I was honored and lucky to have seen her up close in her natural environment. But my love of the photo also comes from other feelings I have about it. I love how soft her fur looks, and how that makes me want to reach out and pet her. I love her intense gaze that she's giving to a kudu off in the distance. I love how it reminds me of one way the safari guides are able to tell one lioness from the next (it's the spots near her whiskers).
She looked so powerful and strong, and she was. But she also likely had cubs nearby, and they would see a completely different side of her. They would know her as the cuddly, caring, gentle mother that she also is.
And in that way, this lioness wasn't that different from a human mother, or parent of either gender. They need to be strong and protective at some times, but also caring, loving, and cuddly with their children at other times. And these similarities just further prove how nature works in amazing ways.
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