WildFact
›
Premier Section
›
Edge of Extinction
ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - B - THE LION (Panthera leo)
ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - B - THE LION (Panthera leo)
|
ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - B - THE LION (Panthera leo)
|
Would love to see some prides establishing their territory there and watch how evolution unfolds
NIGERIAN LIONS
Below is the link to an interesting article on two groups of lions in central and northern Nigeria. One group is similar to Benin lions. Both belong to the subspecies that inhabits western and northern Africa. This subspecies is similar to the subspecies in northwest India (Panthera leo persica). The second group is similar to Cameroon lions (east of Nigeria). These lions belong to the subspecies that inhabits most of central, eastern and southern Africa (Panthera leo leo). For those new to lions. Today only two subspecies are recognized: Panthera leo persica (India and northwest Africa) and Panthera leo leo (central, eastern and southern Africa). The days of many subspecies are behind us. A pity, I think. The article was published in 2014. Full text: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.10....1116/full
MONTANE RAINFOREST LIONS IN ETHIOPIA
This was known some time, but I decided to post it anyhow: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0813-hance...iopia.html
EVALUATION OF BUTORPHANOL, MEDETOMIDINE AND MIDAZOLAM AS A REVERSIBLE NARCOTIC IN FREE-RANGING AFRICAN LIONS (Panthera leo) - Wenger et al, 2010
Below is the link to the article. The lions were darted in South Africa. The heaviest male was 210 kg. Full text (30 pages): http://www.zora.uzh.ch/36268/5/Wenger_BMM_lions.pdf
WHY LIONS LIVE IN PRIDES (BBC, 2009)
The BBC-report report was based on a study conducted by Mosser and Packer. Posted before, but very interesting: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_new...120712.stm 
Now that I read this, about the Mapogo part I do know that the Ottawa pride females are daughters of the Mapogo.
That said, I don't know of any male cub that has make it to adulthood. To compare, the Majingilane males already have two sets of sons that are mature enough to conquer a territory, the Fourways males(two males, a third was killed in a confrontation with the Matimba males) and the Styx males(two males, maybe a third was also killed by bigger males). And in the Sparta pride 3 young males are almost at the age of being expelled from the pride and becoming nomads. A real shame that much of the Mapogo inter-conflicts did this, considering how magnificent this males were. 
Body size of the African lion - comparative images:
Since some time, I have made many images of large mammals, mostly the great herbivores of India, principal with the aim of give the proper "honor" to the prey animals, that sometimes are just forgotten and shadowed by the impressive carnivores of our world. However, this doesn't mean that I have forgotten the carnivores, which I have made many images at this moment. One of the most impressive images (from my point of view) was that of the jaguars, showing the incredible variation between the Central American specimens with those of Brazil. However, one of my goals has been to create the images of the different subspecies of lions and tigers, but this is where the problem begins because, for my surprise, there is enough reliable material for lions but there is very poor one for tigers, specially those from the islands (which is very disappointing). Most of the documents quote Mazák for tigers, ignoring the fact that he don't present where he get the data (and included captive animals), meanwhile most sources quote the lion size in Nowak's "Walker Mammals of the World", which in the case of the great cats, is one of the most UNRELIABLE sources (and I say this with all the authority after searching hundreds of records from animals actually measured). It is obvious that searching data for tigers will take time, but for lions, I can say that 90% of the work has been done. Here I present the comparative images of 3 of the 4 mayor lion evolutionary groups, which cover the two lion subspecies actually accepted: 1. Asian and North-West African lions: Panthera leo leo (the use of "persica" is just for conservation (and political) purposes). 2. The Sub-Saharan African lions: Panthera leo melanochaita - divided in the East and Southern clades. I still need to finish the comparative image of the West African lions and those from the north (Barbary), but for the moment, here you have the images of the Indian lion, the East African lion and the Southern African lion, this last one separated in the two mayor groups: the east population and the west population. 1. Indian lion:  *This image is copyright of its original author This is a new image, actualized from the first one with the Bengal tiger. In this new image I present the silhouette with the large possible size (according with the records) and I changed one big issue: We know the minimum and maximum weights from the four males recorded by scientists, but we don't know the average weight and it is not published, apparently, in other documents. The figure of "175 kg" was mere speculative, but if I want accuracy I think that the best is to eliminate it as we don't know the other two males. In an official page they state and average figure of "160 kg", but I found this doubtful as this is the lowest weight known, although there is the possibility that there would be more weights in modern records that we still don't know. Also, according with Pocock (1931), the heights over 100 cm reported for this population could be exaggerations, so we most take them as suggestive ones (the standing height of the large male of 299 cm "between pegs" was certainly no less than 100 cm). 2. East African lion:  *This image is copyright of its original author Here I made just some minor changes in the title, add the webpage, and I add the silhouette of the largest specimen. Nothing new to add. 3. Southern African lion:  *This image is copyright of its original author This one is completely new and summarize the records from the entire area. In this case, I separate the western specimens (which live in more desertic habitats) from those of the East. The records came from Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. It is impressive to see that although there is little variation between these lions and those from the East, they are comparatively heavier, which corroborate the common fact stated in literature. Interestingly, this two populations present the two dichotomies of the records: a. The Southern lions from the east includes the records of hunters too, but interestingly, some of the scientific sources also used dead animals. In this case, the line between the "hunting record" and the "scientific record" is very thin and difficult to establish. b. The Southern lions of the west, in the other hand, have only lions from scientific records, and although some of the old records could include some dead animals, the documents suggest that it was not the case as all these specimens were captured for radiocollaring, none for culling and none has hunted. All the specimens from this area were measured "along the curves" but this doesn't mean that they were measured like the old hunters (a resent confirmation from a highly reliable source explain the entire issue). In fact, these lions were measured in a straight line but without the use of "pegs", just from tip to tip, without pressing the tape in each curve like the old hunters, but as the tape in put in the back of the animal at the ground, it is say that it was along the curves, or along the body. By the way, the particular heaviest lions are adjusted for stomach content. The lion of 260 kg was corrected to 240 kg (Hu Berry, Etosha, Namibia) and the lion of 280 kg was corrected to 250 kg (Almero, Timbavati, South Africa). For the old record of 251 kg in South Africa, it is not information about the stomach content. Hope you like it, you can use it and in a next post, the lions from the west and north of Africa. Greetings to all. 
Now the obvious question,
Could we see lion (largest clade) and tiger comparisons on the same graph? If its not to much trouble of course. Thanks for your time and great work, yet again.
Body size of the Barbary lion and the west African lion (Panthera leo leo):
Check the new image of the last two lion populations:  *This image is copyright of its original author With this image, I finish all the comparative images of the size of the entire species Panthera leo. For details, check this topic: http://wildfact.com/forum/topic-the-size...ion?page=2 Greetings. (09-14-2015, 09:03 PM)Pckts Wrote: Now the obvious question, Thanks @Pckts, and there is no problem. I am going to make it, now that I have finished all the species Panthera leo. Maybe, I could make an overall comparison image of the two lion subspecies, just like I do with the three largest tiger populations.
The subspecies of lions:
Well, I finally ended with all the lion subspecies, so here are the summary images with the available data: 1. Panthera leo leo - Asian/Barbary/West African lions:  *This image is copyright of its original author 2. Panthera leo melanochaita - East and Southern African lions (with 2 clades):  *This image is copyright of its original author Take in count that I did not add skull measurements in the last image because there is plenty of data, and sincerely I am not interested in summarize it at this moment. However, the longest male lion skull reported from East Africa is a specimen of 408 mm (Mazák, 1983; corroborated by @peter) and the longest skull reliably recorded (and accepted by scientists) from South Africa and the surroundings was of 420 mm (Hemmer, 1974). I don't have data from specimens in southwest Africa. The record of a skull of 432 mm from South Africa came from Rowland Wards "Records of Big Game" (1914) and from the section of "Owner's measurements", so is open to question. If someone is interested in summarize the data on the skulls, I will be glad in adding it and will receive the proper credit for its work. Greetings to all. 
To all the posters, does any one have or had read this document from Mazák (1975)?
The document is: Notes on the black - maned lion of the Cape, Panthera leo melanochaita (Ch. H. Smith, 1842) and a revised list of preserved specimens I will appreciate if anyone could post it here. Greetings to all.  (09-29-2015, 09:50 AM)GuateGojira Wrote: To all the posters, does any one have or had read this document from Mazák (1975)? Never saw it. Post 10 (this thread), however, has an article written by Mazak and Husson about the Cape lion. It's from 1960. I posted it in AVA some years ago and it's interesting.
ETHIOPIAN LIONS SMUGGLED INTO SAUDI-ARABIA, QATAR AND THE EMIRATES
http://sodere.com/m/blogpost?id=2106407%3ABlogPost%3A331195 |
| Users browsing this thread: |
| 4 Guest(s) |