Barbary lion | |
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Barbary lion in Algeria, 1893 [1] | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Suborder: | Feliformia |
Family: | Felidae |
Subfamily: | Pantherinae |
Genus: | Panthera |
Species: | P. leo |
Subspecies: | P. l. leo |
Population: | †Barbary lion |
The Barbary lion was a population of the lion subspecies Panthera leo leo . It was also called North African lion, Atlas lion and Egyptian lion. It lived in the mountains and deserts of the Maghreb of North Africa from Morocco to Egypt. It was eradicated following the spread of firearms and bounties for shooting lions. A comprehensive review of hunting and sighting records revealed that small groups of lions may have survived in Algeria until the early 1960s, and in Morocco until the mid-1960s. Today, it is locally extinct in this region. Fossils of the Barbary lion dating to between 100,000 and 110,000 years were found in the cave of Bizmoune near Essaouira.
Until 2017, the Barbary lion was considered a distinct lion subspecies. Results of morphological and genetic analyses of lion samples from North Africa showed that the Barbary lion does not differ significantly from the Asiatic lion and falls into the same subclade. This North African/Asian subclade is closely related to lions from West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, and therefore grouped into the northern lion subspecies Panthera leo leo.
Barbary lion zoological specimens range in colour from light to dark tawny. Male lion skins had manes of varying colouration and length. [2] Head-to-tail length of stuffed males in zoological collections varies from 2.35 to 2.8 m (7 ft 9 in to 9 ft 2 in), and of females around 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in). Skull size varied from 30.85 to 37.23 cm (1 ft 0.15 in to 1 ft 2.66 in). Some manes extended over the shoulder and under the belly to the elbows. The mane hair was 8 to 22 cm (3.1 in to 8.7 in) long. [2] [3] [4]
In 19th-century hunter accounts, the Barbary lion was claimed to be the largest lion, with a weight of wild males ranging from 270 to 300 kg (600 to 660 lb). [5] Yet, the accuracy of such data measured in the field is questionable. Captive Barbary lions were much smaller but kept under such poor conditions that they might not have attained their full potential size and weight. [5]
The colour and size of lions' manes was long thought to be a sufficiently distinct morphological characteristic to accord a subspecific status to lion populations. [6] Mane development varies with age and between individuals from different regions, and is therefore not a sufficient characteristic for subspecific identification. [7] The size of manes is not regarded as evidence for Barbary lions' ancestry. Instead, results of mitochondrial DNA research support the genetic distinctness of Barbary lions in a unique haplotype found in museum specimens that is thought to be of Barbary lion descent. The presence of this haplotype is considered a reliable molecular marker to identify captive Barbary lions. [8] Barbary lions may have developed long-haired manes, because of lower temperatures in the Atlas Mountains than in other African regions, particularly in winter. [5] Results of a long-term study on lions in Serengeti National Park indicate that ambient temperature, nutrition and the level of testosterone influence the colour and size of lion manes. [9]
Felis leo was the scientific name proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for a type specimen from Constantine, Algeria. [11] Following Linnaeus's description, several lion zoological specimens from North Africa were described and proposed as subspecies in the 19th century:
In 1930, Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated the lion to the genus Panthera , when he wrote about the Asiatic lion. [14]
In the 20th and early 21st centuries, there has been much debate and controversy among zoologists on lion classification and validity of proposed subspecies:
The Barbary lion was considered a distinct lion subspecies. [21] [19] In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the Cat Specialist Group subsumed the lion populations in North, West and Central Africa and Asia to P. l. leo. [22]
The Barbary lion was also called North African lion, [1] Atlas lion, [23] and Egyptian lion. [24]
Results of a phylogeographic analysis using samples from African and Asiatic lions was published in 2006. One of the African samples was a vertebra from the National Museum of Natural History (France) that originated in the Nubian part of Sudan. In terms of mitochondrial DNA, it grouped with lion skull samples from the Central African Republic, Ethiopia and the northern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. [8]
While the historical Barbary lion was morphologically distinct, its genetic uniqueness remained questionable. [25] In a comprehensive study about the evolution of lions in 2008, 357 samples of wild and captive lions from Africa and India were examined. Results showed that four captive lions from Morocco did not exhibit any unique genetic characteristic, but shared mitochondrial haplotypes with lion samples from West and Central Africa. They were all part of a major mtDNA grouping that also included Asiatic lion samples. Results provided evidence for the hypothesis that this group developed in East Africa, and about 118,000 years ago traveled north and west in the first wave of lion expansion. It broke up within Africa, and later in West Asia. Lions in Africa probably constitute a single population that interbred during several waves of migration since the Late Pleistocene. [26] Genome-wide data of a wild-born historical lion specimen from Sudan clustered with P. l. leo in mtDNA-based phylogenies, but with a high affinity to P. l. melanochaita. [27]
A comprehensive genetic study published in 2016 confirmed the close relationship between the extinct Barbary lions from Northern Africa and lions from Central and West Africa and in addition showed that the former fall into the same subclade as the Asiatic lion. [28]
Fossils of the Barbary lion dating to between 100,000 and 110,000 years were found in the cave of Bizmoune near Essaouira. [30] [31] The Barbary lion lived in the mountains and deserts of the Maghreb of North Africa from Morocco to Egypt. It was eradicated following the spread of firearms and bounties for shooting lions. [1] Today, it is locally extinct in this region. [20] Historical sighting and hunting records from the 19th and 20th centuries show that the Barbary lion survived in Algeria until the early 1960s, and in Morocco until the mid-1960s. It inhabited Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub. The westernmost sighting of a Barbary lion reportedly occurred in the Anti-Atlas in western Morocco. It ranged from the Atlas Mountains and the Rif in Morocco, the Ksour and Amour Ranges in Algeria to the Aurès Mountains in Tunisia. [29] In Algeria, the Barbary lion was sighted in the forested hills and mountains between Ouarsenis in the west to the Chelif River plains in the north and the Pic de Taza in the east. It inhabited the forests and wooded hills of the Constantine Province southward into the Aurès Mountains. [1]
In the 1830s, lions may have already been eliminated along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and near human settlements. [32] In Libya, the Barbary lion persisted along the coast until the beginning of the 18th century, and was extirpated in Tunisia by 1890. [33] By the mid-19th century, the Barbary lion population had massively declined, since bounties were paid for shooting lions. The cedar forests of Chelia and neighbouring mountains in Algeria harboured lions until about 1884. [1] The Barbary lion disappeared in the Bône region by 1890, in the Khroumire and Souk Ahras regions by 1891, and in Batna Province by 1893. [34] The last recorded shooting of a wild Barbary lion took place in 1942 near Tizi n'Tichka in the Moroccan part of the Atlas Mountains. A small relict population may have survived in remote montane areas into the early 1960s. [29] The last known sighting of a lion in Algeria occurred in 1956 in Beni Ourtilane District. [29]
Historical accounts indicate that in Egypt, lions occurred in the Sinai Peninsula, along the Nile, in the Eastern and Western Deserts, in the region of Wadi El Natrun and along the maritime coast of the Mediterranean. [35] In the 14th century BC, Thutmose IV hunted lions in the hills near Memphis. [36] The growth of civilizations along the Nile and in the Sinai Peninsula by the beginning of the second millennium BC and desertification contributed to isolating lion populations in North Africa. [37]
In the early 20th century, when Barbary lions were rare, they were sighted in pairs or in small family groups comprising a male and female lion with one or two cubs. [1] Between 1839 and 1942, sightings of wild lions involved solitary animals, pairs and family units. Analysis of these sightings indicate that lions retained living in prides even when under increasing persecution, particularly in the eastern Maghreb. The size of prides was likely similar to prides living in sub-Saharan habitats, whereas the density of the Barbary lion population is considered to have been lower than in moister habitats. [29]
When Barbary stag (Cervus elaphus barbarus) and gazelles became scarce in the Atlas Mountains, lions preyed on herds of livestock that were carefully tended. [38] They also preyed on wild boar (Sus scrofa). [39]
Sympatric predators in this region included the African leopard (P. pardus pardus) and Atlas bear (Ursus arctos crowtheri). [21] [40]
The lions kept in the menagerie at the Tower of London in the Middle Ages were Barbary lions, as shown by DNA testing on two well-preserved skulls excavated at the Tower in 1936 and 1937. The skulls were radiocarbon-dated to around 1280–1385 and 1420−1480. [37] In the 19th century and the early 20th century, lions were often kept in hotels and circus menageries. In 1835, the lions in the Tower of London were transferred to improved enclosures at the London Zoo on the orders of the Duke of Wellington. [41]
The lions in the Rabat Zoo exhibited characteristics thought typical for the Barbary lion. [42] Nobles and Berber people presented lions as gifts to the royal family of Morocco. When the family was forced into exile in 1953, the lions in Rabat, numbering 21 altogether, were transferred to two zoos in the region. Three of these were shifted to a zoo in Casablanca, with the rest being shifted to Meknès. The lions at Meknès were moved back to the palace in 1955, but those at Casablanca never came back. In the late 1960s, new lion enclosures were built in Temara near Rabat. [5] Results of a mtDNA research revealed in 2006 that a lion kept in the German Zoo Neuwied originated from this collection and is very likely a descendant of a Barbary lion. [23] Five lion samples from this collection were not Barbary lions maternally. Nonetheless, genes of the Barbary lion are likely to be present in common European zoo lions, since this was one of the most frequently introduced subspecies. Many lions in European and American zoos, which are managed without subspecies classification, are most likely descendants of Barbary lions. [6] Several researchers and zoos supported the development of a studbook of lions directly descended from the King of Morocco's collection. [25]
At the beginning of the 21st century, the Addis Ababa Zoo kept 16 adult lions. With their dark, brown manes extending through the front legs, they looked like Barbary or Cape lions. Their ancestors were caught in southwestern Ethiopia as part of a zoological collection for Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. [43]
Since 2005, three Barbary lions were kept in Belfast Zoo obtained from Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, and a new Barbary lion enclosure was opened in 2023. [44]
The lion also appeared frequently in early Egyptian art and literature. [45] Statues and statuettes of lions found at Hierakonpolis and Koptos in Upper Egypt date to the Early Dynastic Period. [46] The early Egyptian deity Mehit was depicted with a lion head. [47] In Ancient Egypt, the lion-headed deity Sekhmet was venerated as protector of the country. [48] She represented destructive power, but was also regarded as protector against famine and disease. Lion-headed figures and amulets were excavated in tombs in the Aegean islands of Crete, Euboea, Rhodes, Paros and Chios. They are associated with Sekhmet and date to the early Iron Age between the 9th and 6th centuries BC. [49] The remains of seven mostly subadult lions were excavated at the necropolis Umm El Qa'ab in a tomb of Hor-Aha, dated to the 31st century BC. [50] In 2001, the skeleton of a mummified lion was found in the tomb of Maïa in a necropolis dedicated to Tutankhamun at Saqqara. [51] It had probably lived and died in the Ptolemaic period, showed signs of malnutrition and had probably lived in captivity for many years. [52] The Barbary lion is a symbol in Nubian culture and was often depicted in art and architecture. Nubian deities, such as Amun, Amesemi, Apedemak, Arensnuphis, Hathor, Bastet, Dedun, Mehit, Menhit, and Sebiumeker, were depicted as lion protectors in Kushite religion. [53]
In Roman North Africa, lions were regularly captured by experienced hunters for venatio spectacles in amphitheatres. [39] [54]
The Morocco national football team is called the "Atlas Lions", and the supporters are usually seen wearing T-shirts with a lion's face or wearing a lion suit. [55]
The tiger is a large cat and a member of the genus Panthera native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is traditionally classified into nine recent subspecies, though some recognise only two subspecies, mainland Asian tigers and the island tigers of the Sunda Islands.
The lion is a large cat of the genus Panthera, native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult male lions are larger than females and have a prominent mane. It is a social species, forming groups called prides. A lion's pride consists of a few adult males, related females, and cubs. Groups of female lions usually hunt together, preying mostly on medium-sized and large ungulates. The lion is an apex and keystone predator.
The leopard is one of the five extant cat species in the genus Panthera. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of 92–183 cm (36–72 in) with a 66–102 cm (26–40 in) long tail and a shoulder height of 60–70 cm (24–28 in). Males typically weigh 30.9–72 kg (68–159 lb), and females 20.5–43 kg (45–95 lb).
Panthera is a genus within the family Felidae, and one of two extant genera in the subfamily Pantherinae. It contains the largest living members of the cat family. There are five living species: the jaguar, leopard, lion, snow leopard and tiger, as well as a number of extinct species, including the cave lion and American lion.
The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. It separates the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around 2,500 km (1,600 mi) through Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The range's highest peak is Toubkal, which is in central Morocco, with an elevation of 4,167 metres (13,671 ft). The Atlas Mountains are primarily inhabited by Berber populations.
Panthera spelaea, commonly known as the cave lion, is an extinct Panthera species that was native to Eurasia and northwest North America during the Pleistocene epoch. Genetic analysis of ancient DNA has revealed that while closely related, it was a distinct species genetically isolated from the modern lion, with the genetic divergence between the two species estimated at around 500,000 years ago. The earliest fossils of the P. spelaea lineage in Eurasia date to around 700,000 years ago. It is closely related and probably ancestral to the American lion. The species ranged from Western Europe to eastern Beringia in North America, and was a prominent member of the mammoth steppe fauna, and an important apex predator across its range. It became extinct about 13,000 years ago. It closely resembled living lions with a coat of yellowish-grey fur though unlike extant lions, males appear to have lacked manes.
The American lion, with the species name meaning "savage" or "cruel", also called the North American lion) is an extinct pantherine cat native to North America during the Late Pleistocene from around 130,000 to 12,800 years ago. Genetic evidence suggests that its closest living relative is the lion, with the American lion representing an offshoot from the lineage of the largely Eurasian cave lion, from which it is suggested to have split around 165,000 years ago. Its fossils have been found across North America, from Canada to Mexico. It was about 25% larger than the modern lion, making it one of the largest known felids to ever exist, and an important apex predator.
The Cape lion was a population of lions in South Africa's Natal and Cape Provinces that was extirpated in the mid-19th century. The type specimen originated at the Cape of Good Hope and was described in 1842.
The Caspian tiger was a Panthera tigris tigris population native to eastern Turkey, northern Iran, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus around the Caspian Sea, Central Asia to northern Afghanistan and the Xinjiang region in western China. Until the Middle Ages, it was also present in southern Russia. It inhabited sparse forests and riverine corridors in this region until the 1970s. This population was regarded as a distinct subspecies and assessed as extinct in 2003.
The Asiatic lion is a lion population of the subspecies Panthera leo leo. Until the 19th century, it occurred in Saudi Arabia, eastern Turkey, Iran, Mesopotamia, and from east of the Indus River in Pakistan to the Bengal region and the Narmada River in Central India. Since the turn of the 20th century, its range has been restricted to Gir National Park and the surrounding areas in the Indian state of Gujarat. The first scientific description of the Asiatic lion was published in 1826 by the Austrian zoologist Johann N. Meyer, who named it Felis leo persicus.
Panthera leo leo is a lion subspecies present in West Africa, northern Central Africa and India. In West and Central Africa it is restricted to fragmented and isolated populations with a declining trajectory. It has been referred to as the northern lion.
The Malayan tiger is a tiger from a specific population of the Panthera tigris tigris subspecies that is native to Peninsular Malaysia. This population inhabits the southern and central parts of the Malay Peninsula, and has been classified as critically endangered. As of April 2014, the population was estimated at 80–120 mature individuals, with a continuing downward trend.
The African leopard is the nominate subspecies of the leopard, native to many countries in Africa. It is widely distributed in most of sub-Saharan Africa, but the historical range has been fragmented in the course of habitat conversion. Leopards have also been recorded in North Africa as well.
The history of lions in Europe is part of the wider history of the lion species complex. The rediscovery and confirmation of their presence in Europe, already known by myths, historical accounts and ancient art, was made possible by the finds of fossils of Pleistocene, Holocene and Ancient lions excavated in Europe since the early 19th century. The first excavated lion fossil was found in southern Germany, and described by Georg August Goldfuss using the scientific name Felis spelaea. It probably dates to the Würm glaciation, and is 191,000 to 57,000 years old. Since then, older lion skull fragments were excavated in Germany and in other parts of Europe, including in Western Europe. Some of them were described by Wilhelm von Reichenau under Felis fossilis in 1906.
The Arabian leopard is the smallest leopard subspecies. It was described in 1830 and is native to the Arabian Peninsula, where it was widely distributed in rugged hilly and montane terrain until the late 1970s. Today, the population is severely fragmented and thought to decline continuously. In 2008, an estimated 45–200 individuals in three isolated subpopulations were restricted to western Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen. However, as of 2023, it is estimated that 100–120 in total remain, with 70-84 mature individuals, in Oman and Yemen, and it is possibly extinct in Saudi Arabia. The current population trend is suspected to be decreasing.
The African wildcat is a small wildcat species with sandy grey fur, pale vertical stripes on the sides and around the face. It is native to Africa, West and Central Asia, and is distributed to Rajasthan in India and Xinjiang in China. It inhabits a broad variety of landscapes ranging from deserts to savannas, shrublands and grasslands.
Panthera leo melanochaita is a lion subspecies in Southern and East Africa. In this part of Africa, lion populations are regionally extinct in Lesotho, Djibouti and Eritrea, and are threatened by loss of habitat and prey base, killing by local people in retaliation for loss of livestock, and in several countries also by trophy hunting. Since the turn of the 21st century, lion populations in intensively managed protected areas in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe have increased, but declined in East African range countries. In 2005, a Lion Conservation Strategy was developed for East and Southern Africa.
Rabat Zoo, also known as "Temara Zoo", is a zoological park near Rabat in Morocco that was established in 1973. The first enclosures were built to house lions that were previously kept in the royal palace. These lions were thought to be descendants from Barbary lions.
Addis Ababa Zoo is a zoological park in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The term "maneless lion" or "scanty mane lion" often refers to a male lion without a mane, or with a weak one.
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