There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
--- Peter Broekhuijsen ---

  • 1 Vote(s) - 4 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
The Congo Lion

Matias Offline
Regular Member
***
#16

Great news.

The "wanderer" lion is still alive and passing through the forested area of the Bateke plateau. He must be feeding on small antelopes, and possibly some chimpanzee unaware of his presence. This national park is very poor of wild species. It is a great opportunity for Gabon to restore this species. Until the appearance of this specimen the Republic of Congo would no longer have lions.
7 users Like Matias's post
Reply

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators
#17

This animal was shot somewhere in Northeastern Congo (then Zaire)..

*This image is copyright of its original author
10 users Like Rishi's post
Reply

Matias Offline
Regular Member
***
#18

Link: https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/...017-1039-2


There was a probability of being a captive lion! 20 years separate the last sightings of lions, and due to the distance between Bateke and Odzala / Kokoua it is possible that it is a lion from the area of Léfini Faunal Reserve. If this lion is still alive the reintroduction of lions of the Complex Benoué, Pendjari or Zakouma would retain its differentiated genetics, strengthening this new population. We must also recognize that any new population of lions relocated to live on the Bateke Plateau will constitute a single population (insular) and there is no practical means of genetically contaminating any populations of nearby lions.

 "A survivor who has found in the densely forested area a refuge, an adaptive behavior that has never before been witnessed. With a delay of three years, now definitely this specimen has an enormous conservation value"

Although extremely unlikely, like him, there may be some ghosts in: Yankari, Digya, Comoé, Mole, Kankan ....
6 users Like Matias's post
Reply

Argentina Tshokwane Away
Big Cats Enthusiast
******
#19

Credits to Life Through A Lens Photography.

T R E E • B O U N D 

____________________
There are several places in Africa where you might be lucky enough to see tree-climbing lions, most of them in East Africa: Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda has some of the best parks for this, primarily Ishasha (part of Queen Elizabeth NP, where they often climb fig trees) and Kidepo Valley, on the border to South Sudan. That’s where I found these two, chilling in a sausage trees. It’s not entirely understood why some lions climb trees and others don’t. 

It’s clearly a learned behaviour, which might actually suggest that there’s less of an underlying reason that we might be tempted to read into it. In other words, it could simply be that its comfortable and relaxing, and once a population of lions has discovered that it isn’t that difficult to make your way up an old fig tree... well, why not? But insofar as there IS a more direct reason, it’s been speculated that it’s either a way to get away from the heat, annoying insects, or both. Either way - it looks pretty comfortable to me.

*This image is copyright of its original author
10 users Like Tshokwane's post
Reply

BorneanTiger Offline
Contributor
*****
#20
( This post was last modified: 05-24-2019, 03:10 PM by BorneanTiger )

Forward from (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-north-e...ican-lions), as per Bertola et al. (https://www.nature.com/articles/srep3080..._evolution), Congolese and Central African lions are divided into 2 genetic groups or subspecies, one of which includes the Asiatic and Barbary lions: 


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


The "North group" or "Northern subspecies" is what the Cat Specialist Group refers to as "Panthera leo leo", whereas the "South Group" or "Southern subspecies" is what the CSG refers to as "Panthera leo melanochaita", Pages 7173: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/hand...sAllowed=y

*This image is copyright of its original author


The Northern lion subspecies is the one that includes Barbary and Asiatic lions, whereas the Southern lion subspecies includes Cape and Kruger lions from South Africa. You may notice from the 1st and 4th maps that the northern and southern subspecies overlap in Ethiopia or Northeast Africa.
5 users Like BorneanTiger's post
Reply

Canada Charan Singh Offline
Member
**
#21

(11-01-2017, 09:20 PM)Rishi Wrote: This animal was shot somewhere in Northeastern Congo (then Zaire)..

*This image is copyright of its original author

Impressive young Lion  specimen looks around 3-4 year old and size is massive. 
Never understand what pleasure hunting gives to humans.
2 users Like Charan Singh's post
Reply

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators
#22
( This post was last modified: 01-26-2019, 05:06 PM by Rishi )

(01-26-2019, 01:53 PM)Charan Singh Wrote: Impressive young Lion  specimen looks around 3-4 year old and size is massive. 
Never understand what pleasure hunting gives to humans.

Not necessarily... This one could've been an prime adult. That kind of mane in normal for these lions.

(01-04-2019, 11:03 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: As per Bertola et al. (https://www.nature.com/articles/srep3080..._evolution), Congolese and Central African lions are divided into 2 genetic groups or subspecies, one of which includes the Asiatic and Barbary lions: 


*This image is copyright of its original author


...The Northern lion subspecies is the one that includes Barbary and Asiatic lions, whereas the Southern lion subspecies includes Cape and Kruger lions from South Africa. You may notice from the 1st and 4th maps that the northern and southern subspecies overlap in Ethiopia or Northeast Africa.

So "Congo lions" are the "Central African lions"is same thing right?... The lions recently seen in Gabon's jungle too? @Lycaon

*This image is copyright of its original author
2 users Like Rishi's post
Reply

BorneanTiger Offline
Contributor
*****
#23

(01-26-2019, 02:06 PM)Rishi Wrote:
(01-26-2019, 01:53 PM)Charan Singh Wrote: Impressive young Lion  specimen looks around 3-4 year old and size is massive. 
Never understand what pleasure hunting gives to humans.

Not necessarily... This one could've been an prime adult. That kind of mane in normal for these lions.

(01-04-2019, 11:03 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: As per Bertola et al. (https://www.nature.com/articles/srep3080..._evolution), Congolese and Central African lions are divided into 2 genetic groups or subspecies, one of which includes the Asiatic and Barbary lions: 


*This image is copyright of its original author


...The Northern lion subspecies is the one that includes Barbary and Asiatic lions, whereas the Southern lion subspecies includes Cape and Kruger lions from South Africa. You may notice from the 1st and 4th maps that the northern and southern subspecies overlap in Ethiopia or Northeast Africa.

So "Congo lions" are the "Central African lions"is same thing right?... The lions recently seen in Gabon's jungle too? @Lycaon

*This image is copyright of its original author

D. R. Congo is the largest country in Central Africa, and Africa itself since 2011, when South Sudan broke off from Sudan, which used to be the biggest African country by area, so all Congolese lions are Central African lions, but not vice-versa, in the same way that all Indian lions are Asiatic lions, but that not all Asiatic lions that ever existed (such as in Arabia and Iran) are Indian lions.

Map of Central Africa, excluding South Sudan: https://lizardpoint.com/geography/africa...l-quiz.php

*This image is copyright of its original author
1 user Likes BorneanTiger's post
Reply

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators
#24

(01-26-2019, 05:23 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: D. R. Congo is the largest country in Central Africa, and Africa itself since 2011, when South Sudan broke off from Sudan, which used to be the biggest African country by area, so all Congolese lions are Central African lions, but not vice-versa, in the same way that all Indian lions are Asiatic lions, but that not all Asiatic lions that ever existed (such as in Arabia and Iran) are Indian lions.

Map of Central Africa, excluding South Sudan: https://lizardpoint.com/geography/africa...l-quiz.php

*This image is copyright of its original author

Thanks, but thats not what i'm asking.

Not going into Northern & Southern Clades, Congo lion or Northeast Congo lion (Panthera leo azandica), also known as Uganda lion, is which one from the following map. The "North East" Population? 

*This image is copyright of its original author

So, would that mean:
1. Ethiopian lions are mixture of Uganda/Congo lions & Central African ones?
2. The lion at Gabon was most definitely Central African & not Ugandan?
Reply

Oman Lycaon Offline
أسد الأطلس
*****
Moderators
#25

I would assume the north east population would go from northern congo up to sudan
Reply

BorneanTiger Offline
Contributor
*****
#26
( This post was last modified: 01-26-2019, 10:17 PM by BorneanTiger )

(01-26-2019, 06:03 PM)Rishi Wrote:
(01-26-2019, 05:23 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: D. R. Congo is the largest country in Central Africa, and Africa itself since 2011, when South Sudan broke off from Sudan, which used to be the biggest African country by area, so all Congolese lions are Central African lions, but not vice-versa, in the same way that all Indian lions are Asiatic lions, but that not all Asiatic lions that ever existed (such as in Arabia and Iran) are Indian lions.

Map of Central Africa, excluding South Sudan: https://lizardpoint.com/geography/africa...l-quiz.php

*This image is copyright of its original author

Thanks, but thats not what i'm asking.

Not going into Northern & Southern Clades, Congo lion or Northeast Congo lion (Panthera leo azandica), also known as Uganda lion, is which one from the following map. The "North East" Population? 

*This image is copyright of its original author

So, would that mean:
1. Ethiopian lions are mixture of Uganda/Congo lions & Central African ones?
2. The lion at Gabon was most definitely Central African & not Ugandan?

For that, see the other diagrams by Bertola et al. (https://www.nature.com/articles/srep3080..._evolution), and even the map on Page 72 by the Cat Specialist Group (https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/hand...sAllowed=y) could help, as it is derived from the work of Bertola et al.:


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


Basically, the 'Northeast' clade depicted in the map by Bertola et al. is a clade of Southern lions (Panthera leo melanochaita) present in Kenya and Northeast Africa, where it overlaps with the 'Central' clade, which is a clade of Northern lions (Panthera leo leo) present in South Sudan, Cameroon, Chad and East Nigeria. So when I say that Ethiopian lions are mixed between these 2 clades, try to imagine them as being half-Kenyan (P. l. melanochaita) half-CAR (P. l. leo), as in Panthera leo leo × Panthera leo melanochaita, in the same way that ligers are Panthera leo × Panthera tigris.

From top to bottom, Addis Abeba Zoo (https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2012...-is-found/), Bale Mountans' National Park (https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/an...video.aspx), and Nechisar National Park (https://travel.jumia.com/blog/greener-la...-park-4121): 

*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


Note that both the Addis Abeba (https://link.springer.com/article/10.100...012-0668-5) and Bale lions were found to be genetically similar to Northern lions in the Central African countries of Chad and Cameroon, whereas lions in Nechisar National Park grouped with Southern lions, and because of where Bale and Nechisar are found in Ethiopia, amongst other national parks, Bertola et al. came to the conclusion that the ranges of the Northern and Southern subspecies overlap here to form a zone of admixture: https://media.nature.com/original/nature...807-s1.pdf

Nechisar National Park, which was determined to have Southern lions, is indicated with the red tag, whereas Bale Mountains' National Park, which was determined to have Northern lions, is named, and located to the east: https://www.google.com/maps/place/6°02'0...3333?hl=en 

As for the Gabonese lions in Batéké Plateau National Park (https://psmag.com/environment/the-forest-lion-of-gabon) and Franceville, and the closely-related lions from Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo (a.k.a. Congo-Brazzaville), as per Barnett et al. (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-north-e...5#pid66275), they are not members of what Bertola et al. would call the 'Central' clade of Northern lions, but they appear to be originally from Botswana or Namibia in Southern Africa, meaning that they are apparently descended from Southern African lions (Panthera leo melanochaita) that migrated to the Central African countries of Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville.
*This image is copyright of its original author


Southern African lion in the Kalahari region, which is shared by Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, photo by Allison Buttigieg: http://www.alisonbuttigieg.com/border_galleries/lions/

*This image is copyright of its original author
6 users Like BorneanTiger's post
Reply

Oman Lycaon Offline
أسد الأطلس
*****
Moderators
#27

Two males in Central africa republic.


*This image is copyright of its original author



*This image is copyright of its original author
5 users Like Lycaon's post
Reply

Oman Lycaon Offline
أسد الأطلس
*****
Moderators
#28

https://www.inaturalist.org/people/mathiasdhaen

Really impressive Garamba lions


*This image is copyright of its original author
5 users Like Lycaon's post
Reply

Canada chui_ Offline
Member
**
#29

(11-01-2017, 09:20 PM)Rishi Wrote: This animal was shot somewhere in Northeastern Congo (then Zaire)..

*This image is copyright of its original author

Actually it was the Belgian Congo when that photo was taken in 1912. After independence from Belgium, the dictator Mobutu renamed it Zaire in the 1970s and then when he was overthrown in the late 90s the name was changed to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mobutu (a brutal ruler) was brought into power by the Belgians with the help of the Americans - they conspired against Patrice Lumumba who was on his way to becoming the first leader of this newly independent country and probably would've gone on to be a good leader. But the Americans and their allies would rather have puppet rulers in these countries so they can basically just pay them off and take whatever resources they want. As a result the DR Congo has pretty much been a mess since, both for its people and its wildlife. This was probably one of the most spectacular game rich areas of Africa, right in the heart of the continent, but now its mostly poached out.

Anyway, that photo shows an adult male lion killed in a place called Vankerekhovenville in north eastern DRC (near Garamba NP). This lion measured 286cm in total length and 183cm in head and body length. Its skull measured 375mm in greatest length and 245mm in zygomatic breadth. So a big, good sized lion. Information as well as that photo are from the paper, "Carnivora collected by the American Museum Congo Expedition" 1924 by JA Allen.
5 users Like chui_'s post
Reply

BorneanTiger Offline
Contributor
*****
#30
( This post was last modified: 09-01-2019, 05:41 PM by BorneanTiger )

(08-31-2019, 11:27 PM)chui_ Wrote:
(11-01-2017, 09:20 PM)Rishi Wrote: This animal was shot somewhere in Northeastern Congo (then Zaire)..

*This image is copyright of its original author

Actually it was the Belgian Congo when that photo was taken in 1912. After independence from Belgium, the dictator Mobutu renamed it Zaire in the 1970s and then when he was overthrown in the late 90s the name was changed to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mobutu (a brutal ruler) was brought into power by the Belgians with the help of the Americans - they conspired against Patrice Lumumba who was on his way to becoming the first leader of this newly independent country and probably would've gone on to be a good leader. But the Americans and their allies would rather have puppet rulers in these countries so they can basically just pay them off and take whatever resources they want. As a result the DR Congo has pretty much been a mess since, both for its people and its wildlife. This was probably one of the most spectacular game rich areas of Africa, right in the heart of the continent, but now its mostly poached out.

Anyway, that photo shows an adult male lion killed in a place called Vankerekhovenville in north eastern DRC (near Garamba NP). This lion measured 286cm in total length and 183cm in head and body length. Its skull measured 375mm in greatest length and 245mm in zygomatic breadth. So a big, good sized lion. Information as well as that photo are from the paper, "Carnivora collected by the American Museum Congo Expedition" 1924 by JA Allen.

The political history of Congo-Kinshasa is more complicated than that. Lumumba as Congolese PM faced a revolt from secessionists from Katanga Province (from where Einar Lönnberg described the Katanga lion or Southwest African lion (Panthera leo bleyenberghi ) in 1914), so he appealed to the UN & USA for help, but they refused, and since he was a Communist, he then turned to the USA's arch-rival, the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or simply "Soviet Union", a now-defunct federation that included Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Ukraine, and was founded on the Communist ideology), and this was opposed not just by the Americans and Belgians, but also then-chief-of-staff Mobutu and President Joseph Kasa-Vubu, and so Mobutu apparently conspired with the Katangans and Belgians to eliminate him, and even then, it's not as simple as that. Lumumba as the Communist PM did have his own failings, and after imposing a state of emergency, a journalist who criticised the government got arrested, and there was a rebellion in South Kasai that he ordered troops under Mobutu to put down, but that led to a massacre of civilians in Luba, from what I see.
2 users Like BorneanTiger's post
Reply






Users browsing this thread:
1 Guest(s)

About Us
Go Social     Subscribe  

Welcome to WILDFACT forum, a website that focuses on sharing the joy that wildlife has on offer. We welcome all wildlife lovers to join us in sharing that joy. As a member you can share your research, knowledge and experience on animals with the community.
wildfact.com is intended to serve as an online resource for wildlife lovers of all skill levels from beginners to professionals and from all fields that belong to wildlife anyhow. Our focus area is wild animals from all over world. Content generated here will help showcase the work of wildlife experts and lovers to the world. We believe by the help of your informative article and content we will succeed to educate the world, how these beautiful animals are important to survival of all man kind.
Many thanks for visiting wildfact.com. We hope you will keep visiting wildfact regularly and will refer other members who have passion for wildlife.

Forum software by © MyBB