The term "maneless lion" or "scanty mane lion" often refers to a male lion without a mane, or with a weak one. [1] [2]
The purpose of the mane is thought to signal the fitness of males to females. Experts disagree as to whether or not the mane defends the male lion's throat in confrontations. [3] [4] [5] [6]
Although lions are known for their mane, not all males have one. [2] This might be because of a polymorphism within males. [7]
The Asiatic lion is often considered to have a weak mane compared to its cousins in Africa, due to the hot climate in Asia, [9] but this does not always apply. The manes of most lions in ancient Greece and Asia Minor were also less developed and did not extend to below the belly, sides or ulnas. Lions that occurred in Mesopotamia had hair on the underbelly, unlike modern lions in the wilderness of India, [10] and also, a relief from Nineveh in the Mesopotamian Plain shows a lion with underbelly hair. Lions with such smaller manes were also known in the Syrian region, Arabian peninsula and Egypt, [11] while in Gir Forest of India, cases of maneless lions are rarely reported.
In Iran there are often pictures of stone reliefs with Asiatic lions without a mane.
Lions with such smaller manes were also known in the Syrian region and Arabian peninsula. [12] [13]
In sub-Saharan Africa, lions with weak manes were reported in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda.
Tsavo is a region of Kenya located at the crossing of the Uganda Railway over the Tsavo River, close to where it meets the Athi-Galana-Sabaki River. Tsavo male lions generally do not have a mane, though colouration and thickness vary. There are several hypotheses as to the reasons. One is that mane development is closely tied to climate because its presence significantly reduces heat loss. [14] An alternative explanation is that manelessness is an adaptation to the thorny vegetation of the Tsavo area in which a mane might hinder hunting. Tsavo males may have heightened levels of testosterone, which could also explain their reputation for aggression. [14]
West African lions are often seen with weak manes or none. [15] [16]
Lions in Ancient Egyptian art are usually depicted without a mane, but with a ruff around the neck. [17] The reason for this is not known. [1] [18]
Cave paintings from the Pleistocene epoch often depict lions without manes, even if with the scrotum. [18] [20] [21]
The Barbary lion, also called the North African lion, Atlas lion, and Egyptian lion, is an extinct population of the lion subspecies Panthera leo leo. 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.
The Khuzestan Plain is the relatively flat region of Iran where the Khuzestan province and the cities of Ahvaz, Susa and Abadan are located. It is the largest plain in Iran and one of the richest agricultural areas in the world. It is irrigated by several big rivers such as Karun and Karkheh. Khuzestan Plain borders Mesopotamia and is separated from it by the Shatt al-Arab river.
The history of lions in Europe is based on fossils of Pleistocene and Holocene lions excavated in Europe since the early 19th century. The first lion fossil was excavated 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. Older lion skull fragments were excavated in Germany and described by Wilhelm von Reichenau under Felis fossilis in 1906. These are estimated at between 621,000 and 533,000 years old. The modern lion inhabited parts of Southern Europe since the early Holocene.
The Zagros Mountains forest steppe is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in Western Asia. The ecoregion extends along the Zagros Mountains, stretching from eastern Turkey and northern Iraq to southern Iran.
Fauna in Armenia is diverse given the country's relatively small geographic size, owing to the varied habitats created by the area's mountainous terrain. Armenia is an important area for migratory animals, about 350 different bird species were recorded in the country. Many of the world's domesticated animals originated in the area Armenia is located in, and the mouflon, the ancestor of domesticated sheep, is present there. Research suggests that about a quarter of the animal species in Armenia are internationally endangered. The mouflon are suffering a great population decline due to poaching and habitat loss, and the Sevan trout, which made up thirty percent of the fish in Lake Sevan, have virtually disappeared.
Shirvan State Reserve in Azerbaijan was established on the area of 177.45 square kilometres (68.51 sq mi) of a part of Bendovan State Game reserve in 1969 for the purpose of protecting and increasing the number of water birds. The area of the reserve was expanded to 258 square kilometres (25,800 ha) in 1982.
The yellow-throated marten is a marten species native to Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List due to its wide distribution, evidently relatively stable population, occurrence in a number of protected areas, and lack of major threats.
Afghanistan has long been known for diverse wildlife. Many of the larger mammals in the country are categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as globally threatened. These include the snow leopard, Marco Polo sheep, Siberian musk deer, markhor, urial, and the Asiatic black bear. Other species of interest are the ibex, the gray wolf, and the brown bear, striped hyenas, and numerous bird of prey species. Most of the Marco Polo sheep and ibex are being poached for food, whereas wolves, snow leopards and bears are being killed for damage prevention.
The wildlife of Kazakhstan includes its flora, fauna, and funga and their natural habitats.
The Sumbar is a fast flowing river in southern Turkmenistan and northern Iran. It a tributary of the Atrek. The name Sari-su means yellow water in Turkic languages, but is applied to a number of other rivers as well. It used to be an area for Caspian tigers in Turkmenistan, until the last individual was killed in January 1954.
The Caucasian wildcat is a European wildcat subspecies that inhabits the Caucasus Mountains and Turkey.
Göytəpə — is a city and the most populous municipality, except for the capital Cəlilabad, in the Jalilabad Rayon of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 15,500. Renamed in 1992, 'Göytəpə' in Azeri means "Blue Hill."
A tigon, tiglon, or tion is the hybrid offspring of a male tiger and a lioness, or female lion. They exhibit visible characteristics from both parents: they can have both spots from the mother and stripes from the father. Any mane that a male tigon may have will appear shorter and less noticeable than a lion's mane and is closer in type to the ruff of a male tiger.
The Sherobod, Sherabad or Sheroboddaryo is a right tributary of the Amu Darya in the Surxondaryo Region, southern Uzbekistan. It is about 177 kilometres (110 mi) long and drains an area of 2,950 square kilometres (1,140 sq mi). The river rises in the arid foothills of the Gissar Range and flows south through steppe before flowing through a mountain ridge to empty into the Central Asian plain near the city Sherobod. The river turns south and flows past Qorasuv, to flow into the Amu Darya near the village Shurab. Because of irrigation water use, most of the water in the Sherabad no longer reaches the Amu Darya and its eventual destination in the Aral Sea. After flowing out of the mountains the remaining water in the river is usually salty so it is unsuitable for further water use. In dry years, most of the river dries up before reaching the Amu Darya.
Parishan Lake is a lake in Iran. The Parishan Lake is in Jereh and Baladeh District in Fars Province and is the largest freshwater lake in the country. It receives only very small amount of water from feeder rivers and the whole lake or wetland is a protected area, as it is considered a globally significant wetland ecosystem.
Konstantin Alekseevich Satunin was a zoologist from the Russian Empire who studied and described many mammals found in the Russian Empire.
Golestan National Park, commonly known as the Golestan Jungle, is an Iranian National Park in Golestan Province, northeastern Iran.
Amphimachairodus is an extinct genus of large machairodonts. It is also a member of the tribe Homotherini within Machairodontinae and is most closely related to such species as Xenosmilus, Homotherium itself, and Nimravides. It inhabited Eurasia, Northern Africa and North America during the late Miocene epoch.
The Ussuri dhole, also known as the Eastern Asiatic dhole and the Chinese dhole, is the nominate subspecies of the dhole wild dog native to Asia. The Ussuri dhole subspecies is originally native to China and sections of Manchuria, the Amur River, the Korean Peninsula and Mongolia; however, it is presumed regionally extinct or extirpated in most of its historical range in the country, and likely found in fragmented populations in the Russian Far East.
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