Which animal is traditionally called the king of the jungle?

The lion carries the title, and it is a nickname built on symbolism rather than habitat. Lions live on savannah, open woodland and scrub, not in rainforest; a jungle would be poor ground for an animal that hunts by cooperative stalking across open grass. The kingly image comes from heraldry and religious art in Europe and the Near East, where the lion stood for courage and sovereignty long before most people who used the phrase had seen one. The male's mane helps, giving a silhouette that reads as a crown, though its actual functions appear to be signalling condition to rivals and mates and offering some protection to the neck in fights. Lions are also unusual among cats for being social, living in prides in which related females do most of the hunting and raise cubs communally, while males defend territory. The word jungle itself is borrowed from Hindi and Sanskrit.

A small population of lions survives in the Gir forest of India, the last outside Africa.