THE LION

Lions used to be the most widespread land mammal on the planet, in my opinion they used to rule the World. Lion remains have been found all over the World through Europe, Africa, Asia and even the Americas. The 'modern lion' as we know today existed all through Europe, remains have been found as far as France, right over to The Middle East, Into India and Asia and all through Africa.

One hundred years ago lions used to live all over the African Continent however as you can see by this map below, things have changed dramatically.

The only animal to replace the lion as the most widespread on the planet has been us, humans. We have also been critical in their extermination throughout the planet, lions have no natural predators as they are at the top of their food chain. The only problems that lions can encounter are from nature itself and from humans.

EVOLUTION

The first undisputed Lion remain was found in Tanzania dating back to 1.87-1.7 million years ago. Lions are a truly ancient species compared to homo-sapiens who have only been on the planet in our current form for a mere two hundred thousand years, whereas lions as you can see go back millions. 

Lions evolved out of Africa, just like we did, we mimicked their own dispersal as they too migrated out of Africa up into Europe, Asia and even the Americas, as far south as Peru. Lions became incredibly successful straight away and became one of the first modern grass land predators, as more ungulate species evolved to live off the plains, they became perfectly adapted to live off this kind of prey. It is unknown whether or not they had existed to be a group species as they are now, however evidence that they lived on grasslands are had similar prey species to now, would give an idea that why would anything have been different? It seems so inbuilt into lion society, the pride system would probably have been something that started thousands of years back in their history. This once again is probably a big factor in their huge success.

Lions are a truly African species, it is their birthplace, in particular Eastern Africa, the cradle of lion kind, and human kind too. Lions had everything they needed to make them excel at becoming great hunters and they spread all over the World, their success once again mimicked by us. However lions didn't have any cheating such as fire to use, they ruled the planet with sheer magnificence and pride. 

A population bottleneck c 320 - 190,000 this years ago created a single population of the modern lion that we know today. This population that quickly 'replaced' the previous lion populations as it dispersed all through Africa and into Southern Eurasia and into India. These are the lions in which all of the lions that we know today are the descendants of. Lions really did have nothing to worry about all through their evolution into the creatures that we see and admire today, they have been a huge part in human culture, an animal that we have always feared and respected. Lions are a symbol of pride and courage in nearly every single European nation (especially that of Britain) they are an animal that have inspired us through culture, architecture and so on, they are one of the most famous animals known to people, and I really do not think it takes long for us to see why.

TAXONOMY

To the modern scientific community there are two distinct subspecies of lion, the rare Asiatic Lion found in the northern tip of India and the more common African Lion found throughout the African Continent. Both of these lions would have evolved from their common ancestor in Eastern Africa (see section above). 

Between these two subspecies these lions used to cover a huge area throughout the Africa and Eurasia. However it is widely disputed as to which subspecies covered these particular areas, especially the European areas. Most believe that the lions found in Europe would have been more like the Asiatic Lions we see today, some even believe that these lions would have crossed into Northern Africa, and that lions from the top of Africa are more closely related to their Asiatic cousins then they are to Lions of Eastern Africa. 

Both of these subspecies do have many differences in their appearance and behaviour as explained below.

The Asiatic Lion is generally slightly smaller than their African cousins. Their manes are not as well defined or as impressive and offer a much darker colouring to African males. Their faces are longer and they have a larger tail tuft too. However the most important difference is a fold of skin that they have along the base of their bellies. This is very rarely seen in African Lions but is seen in all Asiatic Lions. If it is seen in African Lions in captivities this could be a pointer that they may descend from lions at the top of the African Range that may have been at the border of any Lion subspecies crossing in their past ranges.

As can be seen below with London Zoo's resident male lion "Lucifur" who is of the Asiatic variety, his mane is extensive but not very long and a bit dull compared to some of the African males, it is very dark. The belly fold is unseen because of his mane, but this is a big characteristic feature as explained above.

In my opinion, Asiatics do generally look just a lot more scruffy, they are a lot grayer in colour and they just look a bit bland compared to their African cousins. Below is a picture of "Kasanga" who is a new male lion at Woburn Safari Park. "Kasanga" is everything to me that an African Lion is, his mane is a rich golden colour, his mane is long and flows down his body, it is hard to believe that he is not even fully grown yet! 

The African Lion is larger, taller, and leaner than his Asiatic counterparts. They are also a lot more colourful, some lions can have a rich golden coat, others can be a lot darker, however some will have a coat of an almost red chestnut colour. Their manes also vary a lot more in colour and size (see section below for more details).

But how different are they really?

It has been recently discovered that the genetic difference between African and Asiatic lions is only 1.1%. This is less than human racial groups, these are at present the only two subspecies recognised by the IUCN. Many scientists still believe that there are at least seven seperate African subspecies and this is something that is currently being pushed by the EEP to create a studbook for each one. My personal opinion is that all lions as I have explained have evolved from the same single origin model, so they are in effect all 'the same lion' naturally over time they may differ due to different conditions but underneath they are all still the same lion, they can all breed together. Surely the greater genetic diversity in the wild and captive breeding programmes is better for the lion genetics than creating inbred subspecies? Nothing in nature is set, everything is free flowing, nothing is ever controlled.

APPEARANCE

The Lion is the tallest of all the big cats, they can measure up to four foot at the shoulder and the males with all of their mane can be up to over five foot at the top of their head. They really are the most magnificent of the cats, kings at their best. They are incredibly lean when compared to tigers, whereas tigers are more 'chunky' and overbearing lions are leaner and taller.

Below is "Zuri" at Linton Zoo showing the average length of a male lion, he is not the tallest of lions at the shoulder, but he is certainly huge in his size apart from that. They are on average slightly less than six foot in length.

"Riziki" at Linton Zoo below showing the size of the average male lion, he is probably one of the largest in the country. As I stand at nearly six foot tall when he is stood like this next to me he isn't that much less than a foot shorter than me at the top of his mane. He really is superb.

A male lion can weigh up to 350-450 pounds whereas females are significantly smaller and only weigh up to around 270- 350 pounds in weight. As a result of this the males are a lot bigger than the females in length and also in height too. As can be seen below.

Here you can see the true extent of the size difference between the male and female lion. Bear in mind that "Safina" below is a very small lioness when compared to her mate "Zuri" but she is definately not too far off the average size of a lioness, lionesses too like males will differ in size, but here you can see how much bigger the males really are in size.

The mane is a very important feature of the male lion, they are the only members of the feline family that have such a distinct difference between the genders. The mane is a large head of hair around the face and shoulders going all the way down to the front legs and in some cases all along the belly of the individual. Naturally these varies from each lion, they are not the only cat species that have hair around the neck tigers do show this in some respects, some more than others. Below you can see a Sumatran Tiger "Jae Jae" at London Zoo who does have a rather hairy neck. 

Lions and Tigers are as far as the evolutionary tree go still incredibly alike, you can still breed them together to create Ligers and Tigons however these cubs are then sterile which shows that they have branched a little too far away to be bred back together. Underneath the skin they all exactly the same under the flesh and bone, even an expert would find it hard to tell the difference.

GROUPING

Lions are unique in many ways, not only their appearance as I have already explained but mainly due to the fact that they are the only sociable member of the cat family. Whereas most Big and Small cats all live incredibly solitary lives only coming together when they mate, the lion lives in groups and will actively seek out company.

A group of lions is known as a pride. A pride consists of a group of females generally all related, made up of sisters, cousins, aunts, etc. The females will stay with the pride that they are born with, this is once again another way in which to track back generations in one area using mitochondrial DNA (only found in females). The area that a pride will control can vary in size ranging from a few square miles to over hundreds. The pride will change its position within its territory regarding on where the best prey is located at the time, the best sign of the most wanted territory is a location where you don't have to move around all the time, a place where food is plentiful all year round, and these places must include a decent water supply. Below is a photo of the old Longleat Safari Park woodland pride in 2001.

Many studies have been written regarding why lions live in prides, many think it could be because of the way that females will help rear each-others cubs, giving them more protection and so that more lions may live past cub-hood, some think it is because of the greater protection that numbers can give when hunting for food but in actual fact the reason that most scientists have concluded is that lions live in groups in order to keep the best territory with the best water supply. Lions seem to have worked out long ago in their history that the best areas that contain the most plentiful food supply will need protecting, so living in groups gives them the opportunity to keep hold of the best possible territory away from other lions and other predators.

Whereas females stay with the pride, males have a very different story. Male lions are kicked out of their birth pride at the age of a year old by which time they are old enough to fend for themselves. They are either kicked out by their fathers when they are considered a threat or are chased out by new pride males when a take-over occurs. To give them time to reach sexual maturity they will form groups with other male lions throughout their time as nomads known as coalitions. These coalitions are generally made up of related males from the same birth pride but in some cases can be made up of complete strangers, after all it may be better to work together then to starve. These males may travel thousands of miles just to find an unoccupied territory, this is a process known as 'sex based dispersal'. Because of their complex group structure this allows their genetics to flow freely all around pride areas stretching through different countries, because of the huge distances that the males will travel. This gives a constant mix up of genetics in each pride after every take-over. However because the areas now used by humans, this has condensed the distance that these males can now travel safely. 

Below is a photo of old Woburn Safari Park pride males in 2001, Romeo and Legs Diamond. These two were not direct siblings, but they did grow up together so they formed a decent enough relationship to rule a pride together.

When male lions take over prides they are no strangers to infanticide, they will kill any cubs they come across that do not belong to them, purely because once they do, the females in a couple of days will come back into season and ready to mate, allowing them to father their next generation of cubs. Male lions will chase out previous pride males and will generally fight to the death, or to the point of serious injury, previous males will either die straight away or either die of starvation, very few will keep going to take over a second pride, although some cases have been recorded of the lucky ones.

ECOLOGY

As lions live throughout the African continent their habitat varies from each extreme. Lions are primarily a Savannah animal, built for life on the grass plains, they survey their territory from high areas such as mounds, hills and kopjes (huge rocks). These lions remain heavily on the migrating herds they go past giving them a plentiful supply of food within the right seasons. Some lions live on more of the desert ranges, generally these lions are more nomadic because they are constantly on the move and on the search for food.

The only areas that lions are absent from are either rainforest and the center of deserts.

THREATS

With the huge decline of lion numbers their last strong hold in Africa as I said earlier is now under threat. A hundred years ago there was an estimated population of six hundred thousand lions. Today there is an estimated population between 18,000 and 35,000. The most accurate population estimate is 23,000. This is catastrophic. This is drop of about 95% in a hundred years. This is why the Safina Lion Project is here because no one knows of this.

No one knows that lions are slipping through our fingers at such a drastic rate. For example there are now twenty five African countries where lions are no longer present and in some countries such as Nigeria there is only an estimated population of thirty five individuals left.

Lions are suffering from many problems namely habitat destruction, more land is being needed for human housing and farm land so lions are no longer welcome there. As a result of this their prey species too are being wiped out so some lions die of starvation, or if they come across human settlements they will attack livestock which will then lead to human confrontation which will then lead to lions being killed as they are then considered threats to the human population. A more recent problem is a the huge level of trophy hunting that now occurs. It is unbelievable how much money wealthy business men will pay just to to kill a lion as part of a canned lion hunting scheme. Now however there is a more recent and much more of a harder problem to stop, Illegal trade. Due to the huge demand in tiger bone and body parts for Chinese medicine they have now discovered a problem, there are barely any tigers left in the wild to support this growing industry, so what are they doing? Because lions and tigers are very closely related, they are only separated from the same ancestor in the last few hundred thousand years (believe me in may seem like a long time but in terms of evolution it is barely a second!) ago they are still exactly the same to the human eye in the skin and bone and even experts would find it hard to tell them apart straight away. So as far as the illegal traders are concerned this is problem solved, so they are coming into Africa, killing lions, shipping the bones back to China and selling it off as tiger bone. Fortunately more and more authorities are becoming aware of this problem and many skins and body parts are seized by police patrols, but bribes are very high and many tiger and lion parts are still making it past this barrier. I think we can safely say that the people who organise these trading movements know exactly what they are doing and they will be very hard to stop, however it is a fight worth winning.

There are only five countries in Africa with a lion population numbering over a thousand these are Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. As for the rest of these countries there may be very little help for lions anymore. As 'regions' go there are currently only an estimated 645 lions in the entirety of west and central Africa. It is a very sad fact that the only ones that we can blame for this eradication is ourselves, this disgusting decrease in lion numbers like most animal extinctions is caused entirely by us, it is why I believe it is our job to try and reverse it.

The future does look bleak for the Lion and unfortunately I cannot bring you any news that it is getting any better immediately, but first of all we need to spread the word and we need to let people know that this is happening. The sad fact is that not many people are aware that the lion is so badly threatened. It really will be a sad day if we have to say goodbye to the 'King of the Beasts' for good. The wilds of Africa would never be the same without his roar carrying through the Savannah.

CONSERVATION STRATEGIES

Lions suffer huge problems in the wild because of human conflict with their livestock, so fencing would seem to be the obvious solution?

However fencing means that lion numbers will have to stay in the same area, it would mean that population densities may become more intense over time as it would make dispersal impossible outside the fenced areas. It will also stop the freedom of other animals, especially herd animals and more nomadic carnivores such as African Wild Dogs and Cheetah harder if they may wish to travel further. It may also damage the aesthetics of certain areas, but however pretty an area may be, if this is something that may help save these wild animals, it has to be done.

But it would also mean more protected groups of lions with a food supply, but should lions be put above all other animals? In my opinion lions need to have more of an important sitting in wild animal conservation than they do at the moment but in order to make more projects viable, more vital funding is needed first.

Is the only way to keep nature safe to enclose it? This may be the case but possibly it could only have to be a temporary measure? Until more and more habitats are restored back to their correct health in lion (and other animal) numbers. Fences may divide certain conservationists but there are plenty that they do agree on. The beauty and indeed hardship of anything like this is that there is never a right thing to do, nature does not have a set route it is always constantly changing. What we have to do is try and adapt the right setting for these animals to survive, but all animals will have different ways that are appropriate to them.

Some of this page has been taking from notes made from reading David Youldon's Article on the ALERT PAGE shown here titled "The Impacts of Lions' Evoluntionary History on Current Conservation Strategies and Threats". Particularly notes made from the Evolution Section.