ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - B - THE LION (Panthera leo)

[GuateGojira]

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. Reply