Snow

[FlipMode]

I was thinking of writting a fan fiction with winter conditions like snow, and ice, colder weather etc.
Course it would not necessarily be set in the same place as TLK (Africa is it?) but I wandered if it would make sense? Could lions live in these conditions?

[Azdgari]

I did an HTTYD snow fic. It's a lot of fun, I would recommend it. Who cares if lions can live in snow? It's your story, you tell it your way. C:

[FlipMode]

Yeah I thought it would be interesting to have them adapt to it from the heat they are used to. But you know how some critiques can be "WHAT ARE YOU DOING LIONS CANT LIVE IN SNOW ENVIRONMENTS NOOOOOB MINUS 10 PRIDE POINTS E5TD3SSERTRFY RAEG" End quote.

[DGFone]

Lions wouldn't survive in snow. Even if they can handle the cold (which I doubt to the Nth degree), they won't be able to hunt due to their tan fur color. Great stealth in snow? Not really.

Good idea though. I won't subtract 10 pride-points for suggesting it.

[FlipMode]

Oh, fiddlesticks.

[YFWE]

I think it might be doable if it were a fanfic that didn't have the lions living there long-term, or if you spoke of a group of, say, 'lost lions' who found themselves in that terrain and evolved over the years (possibly centuries) to somehow be able to survive, be it through a different fur color or whatever. If it ended up being the TLK lions and they were only in this terrain short-term, it might work (?), though obviously you'd have to document their struggles and, to be frank, slow death, unless they were able to escape said terrain.

I'm not sure what your intentions in terms of story would be with this, so I can't really say for sure how you could work around this. But I know I'd be able to suspend disbelief as long as you avoided/did a few of the aforementioned things.

[Panda-chan]

This is something random I found that may explain a few things: http://scienceray.com/biology/zoology/c ... ic-tundra/ :B

Lions can live in snow but not survive, if that makes any sense. Their bodies are built for surviving in the hot African plains, but that doesn't mean they will drop dead the instant they make contact with snow. It's just that in the long-term, lions are at a much higher disadvantage than other predatory animals that live in cold climates, because of their different evolutionary traits (fur color for camouflauge, amount of fur, etc).
To make your fanfic more realistic, a lot of lions would have to die of cold/hunger/other issues, but lions are tough animals, and I'm sure more than a few could survive snowy conditions for a while. Hunting the different type of prey would have to be something they overcome, and I imagine other predators such as wolves and eagles would compete for resources.

[Azdgari]

Hey guys, guess what?

Lions can't talk either. Or sing in musical numbers with herds of African animals. But that doesn't stop anyone. ;3

I mean like my significant other YFWE said, you have to make clear that it's colder than their used to, which is dangerous, and obviously it's no cakewalk since it's not their natural environment, but I say go to town. ^^

[Baya]

I think Azd has a point. I really don't think lions sit down with hyenas and contemplate murdering the current pride leader either lol. So I would say its a go buddy! I'm looking forward to reading it!

[FlipMode]

Yeah I mean its not like I didn't do a bit of research before, but it was just a very mixed bag of results from "No it wouldn't be possible." to things like "Of course they can, what happens in zoos when it snows? And mountain lions etc" though I think mountain lions are a bit different to traditional African lions...

In the end though I thought "Could I imagine a new Lion King movie that was set like this." and I could. =)
Well thanks for your input everyone.