KING OF FOREST(LION)2024
KING OF FOREST(LION)2024
Panthera leo melanochaita is a lion subspecies in Southern and East Africa.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] In 2005, a Lion Conservation Strategy was developed for East and Southern Africa.[4]
KING OF FOREST(LION)2024 Results of a phylogeographic study indicate that lion populations in southern and eastern Africa form a major clade distinct from lion populations in West Africa, Central Africa and Asia.[5] In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group subsumed lion populations according to the major clades into two subspecies, namely P. l. leo and P. l. melanochaita.[1] Within P. l. melanochaita three subclades are clearly distinguishable. One from northeastern Africa, another one from southwestern Africa and a third one from southeastern Africa.[5]
The type specimen for P. l. melanochaita was a black-maned lion from the Cape of Good Hope, known as the Cape lion.[6] Phylogeographic analysis of lion samples from Gabon and the Republic of the Congo indicate their close genetic relation to P. l. melanochaita samples from Namibia and Botswana.[7] It has been referred to as the Southern lion, Southern African lion, East-Southern African lion[8] and the “southern subspecies“.[9][10]
Taxonomy
Lions shot in Kenya’s Sotik Plains in 1909
Felis (Leo) melanochaitus was the scientific name proposed by Charles Hamilton Smith in 1842 who described a lion specimen from South Africa’s Cape Province.[11] In the 19th and 20th centuries, several naturalists described zoological specimens from Southern and East Africa and proposed the following subspecies:
Dispute over the validity of these purported subspecies continued among naturalists and curators of natural history museums until the early 21st century.[6][21][22][23][24] In the 20th century, some authors supported the view of the Cape lion being a distinct subspecies.[18][21] In 1939, the American zoologist Allen also recognized F. l. bleyenberghi, F. l. krugeri and F. l. vernayi as valid subspecies in Southern Africa, and F. l. hollisteri, F. l. nyanzae and F. l. massaica as valid subspecies in East Africa.[21]
Pocock subordinated the lion to the genus Panthera in 1930, when he wrote about Asiatic lions.[25] Ellerman and Morrison-Scott recognized only two lion subspecies in the Palearctic realm, namely the African P. l. leo and the Asiatic P. l. persica.[26] Various authors recognized between seven and 10 African lion subspecies.[23] Others followed the classification proposed by Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, recognizing two subspecies including one in Africa.[27]
In the 1970s, the scientific name P. l. vernayi was considered synonymous with P. l. krugeri.[23] In 1975, Vratislav Mazák hypothesized that the Cape lion evolved geographically isolated from other populations by the Great Escarpment.[6] In the early 21st century, Mazák’s hypothesis about a geographically isolated evolution of the Cape lion was challenged. Genetic exchanges between populations in the Cape, Kalahari and Transvaal Province regions and farther east are considered having been possible through a corridor between the Great Escarpment and the Indian Ocean.[28][29]
In 2005, the authors of Mammal Species of the World recognized P. l. bleyenberghi, P. l. krugeri, P. l. vernayi, P. l. massaica, P. l. hollisteri and P. l. nyanzae as valid taxa.[24] In 2016, IUCN Red List assessors subsumed all African lion populations to P. l. leo.[2] Two lion subspecies are now recognised:[1]
