Another take on another photo of Rowdy, a male lion (Panthera leo) at the Toronto Zoo.

Male lions live a very precarious life, one of reign and ruin. One fit enough to survive adolesence will leave the pride in which they will born and seek out their own. They will spend time as loners, often in an unfriendly landscape, living by the bloody tooth and claw. If they are strong enough, they will fight other males and usurp the role of pasha in a pride. It is then they will sire their own cubs and perpetuate their genetic legacy. Their reign however, whether brief or broad, will eventually come to an end. A new, fitter male will always be waiting on the horizon to challenge them. If they are not killed by a new challenger, they will be forced out of the pride. In an old and weakened state, the former king will then fall victim to the kingdom they once reigned. Like a ghost, they will fade away, swallowed up by the land and the cycle begins anew.