North-East / Central / Equatorial African lions

[BorneanTiger]

(01-23-2019, 10:59 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: Now for the Nubian lion (Panthera leo nubica), whose taxonomic name was used for East African lions to the south, or confused with the Atlas lion. Nubia is a historical region which is currently divided between Egypt and Sudan, so when De Blainville described a lion under Felis leo nubicus in 1843, he wasn't referring to a lion from the Atlas Mountains or Kenya, but from either Egypt or Sudan (https://web.archive.org/web/201707281311...ra_leo.pdf).

Image of lion reliefs in Nubian Sudan by The Wire: https://thewire.in/history/rediscovering...ubia-sudan

*This image is copyright of its original author

Nubian lion in New York Zoo, 1903: https://archive.org/stream/annualreportn...9/mode/1up

*This image is copyright of its original author

Remember Jackie the MGM lion (1928–1956)?

Jackie was said to be from the Nubian desert of Sudan: https://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/201...l_tid.html

To explain better how the Nubian lion (Panthera leo nubica) of Northeast Africa isn't the Barbary lion (Panthera leo leo) of the Maghreb (Northwest Africa):

The Barbary lion (Panthera leo leo) inhabited the Maghreb (Northwest Africa), particularly the fairly temperate region of the Atlas Mountains, whereas the Nubian lion (Panthera leo nubica) inhabited the desert region of Nubia (divided between the present countries of Egypt and Sudan) in Northeast Africa.

Map of Northeast Africa, with the Nubian desert shown to the south, by Jeff Dahl:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Pyramids at Meroë, in the Nubian part of Sudan, by B. N. Chagny:
   

So confusing between the Barbary and Nubian lions is like confusing between the Amur and Bengal tigers, because just as the Barbary lion inhabited a temperate region of Africa (the region of the Atlas Mountains), the Siberian tiger inhabits a temperate area (the border-region of China, Korea and Russia), and just as the Bengal tiger inhabits rather hot countries like India, the Nubian lion was from the hot Nubian region. As in, can you imagine an Amur tiger living in a rather hot country like India, or a Barbary lion living in a desert like that of Nubia? https://www.definitions.net/definition/nubian%20lion, https://www.dict.cc/english-german/Nubia...eo%5D.html, http://beinglion.com/barbary-lions.php, https://animalsake.com/facts-about-barbary-lion, https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispee...y_Lion.htm, https://bigcatrescue.org/barbary-lions/

Former habitat of the Barbary lion (https://archive.org/stream/bookoflion191...2/mode/2up), the montane forest outside Chelia in Algeria, with the Aurès Mountains in the background, by Charif Ben Boulaïd:
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