Lion Form (Zuberi)

Attributes

 * Weak Potency
 * Minor Range
 * Vast Utility

Description
Standing at 1.3 meters in shoulder height, and 3.6 meters from the tip of the nose to the tip of its tail, he weights approximately 255 kilograms and retains the pure white fur of his other forms.

In this form, Zuberi can sprint at 50 km/h for about 50 meters, sustain a steady run of about 30 km/h for about 30 minutes, and jump about 3.7 meters vertically and up to 11 meters horizontally.

The forebody of the lion is very powerfully built, this enables the lion to deliver blows with it's forepaws heavy enough to break a zebra's back, easily breaking a human skull and neck with one blow. The bones of the front legs are twisted in such a manner as to give a great range of motion to the forelimb.

Each paw is equipped with soft pads to make it's movements quiet, allowing Zuberi to sneak around a target.

The claws are retractile and very sharp. The dewclaw on the front limbs is often used as a toothpick. Zuberi's claws are 1 1/2 inches (38 mm) from base to tip along the curve, sharp enough to pierce through thick leather and slash it.

Not being an adult just yet, Zuberi's mane isn't quite as dense as a full grown lion, covering the backside of the head and shoulders, down the chest and a bit of his back. The mane is slightly darker than the rest of his white fur, close to a very pale blond, possibly reminiscence from his human form. Unlike a common lion's mane hair which is stiff and wiry, like stiff horeshair, Zuberi's mane is soft and gains volume with humidity.

The eyes are proportionately larger than in other comparable-sized animals, and possess round pupils. The eyes are also well-adapted for use under very low light. This helps the lion hunt at night. They contain a special reflective coating that increases the lion's visual acuity in very low light by ensuring that every possible photon of light makes it to the cells in the retina.

A white circle just below the eyes helps reflect light into the eyes to further improve night vision. Like most mammals, lions have a nictitating membrane which serves to clean and protect the eye in some circumstances. Lions have limited ability to move their eyes side-to-side, and must turn the head to look in a different direction.

The sense of smell is well developed, helping them find kills made by other predators, and perhaps obtain an easy meal by driving the other predator off their kill.

The sense of hearing is perhaps only slightly above average. The ears can be swiveled over a wide angle to enable the lion to hear distant sounds, and know what direction they are coming from.

The lion's teeth are well adapted for killing their prey and eating it, allowing Zuberi to easily break bones and tear away limbs.

The jaw is not capable of moving side-to-side, like ours. This helps keep the carnassal teeth in alignment for cutting. The tongue is covered with rough spines, called papillae. This helps the lion scrape meat off of bones, and acts like a comb for grooming.

A lion's body temperature ranges from 100.5 to 102.5 degrees farenheit. (38.05 - 39.16 degrees C.)

No physical description of the lion would be complete without some mention being made about it's magnificent roar. Only four cats can roar: The lion, tiger, leopard, and jaguar. When a lion roars, it can do so with enough force to raise a cloud of dust. Roaring is made possible by a special two-piece hyoid bone in the throat. All of the non-roaring cats have a one-piece hyoid bone. It is said that a lion's roar can be heard 5 miles (8 km) away.

Zuberi is also able to talk as a human in this form with some effort, his voice deeper due to the difference in mouth, throat and chest. The transformation takes 3 seconds, and can last for the whole day, with no particular restriction on how many times he can shift.