Barbary lion

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Barbary lion
Barbary lion in Algeria, 1893[1]
Barbary lion in Algeria, 1893[1]
Scientific classificationEdit this 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

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.

Characteristics

A Barbary lion in the Bronx Zoo, 1897

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

ambient temperature, nutrition and the level of testosterone influence the colour and size of lion manes.[9]

Taxonomy

Map shows range of P. l. leo and P. l. melanochaita[10]

Felis leo was the

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:

[19] 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]

Genetic research

Results of a

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

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]

Former distribution and habitat

The last photograph of a wild lion in the Atlas Mountains, taken by Marcelin Flandrin in 1925[29]
This detail of a map by Jan Janssonius (1588-1664) shows the former "Barbary Coast" of North Africa, known in the 17th century as Barbaria, now covered by Algeria.

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

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

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
Beni Ourtilane District.[29]

Historical accounts indicate that in Egypt, lions occurred in the

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]

Behaviour and ecology

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]

In captivity

See also: Damnatio ad bestias

The lions kept in the

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

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

Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.[43]

Since 2005, Belfast Zoo has kept 3 alleged adult Barbary lions, transferred from Port Lympne Wild Animal Park. In partnership with Panthera.org, Belfast Zoo opened a new Barbary lion habitat in 2023.[44]

Cultural significance

Further information: Cultural depictions of lions and Lion § Cultural significance
Painting of a lion hunt in Morocco by Eugène Delacroix, 1855, in the Hermitage Museum

The lion also appeared frequently in early

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]

See also

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External links

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