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.
Revealing the study of Mr. Ned Hollister (biologist), there are numerous inferences made and, regardless of the distant year of 1917, his revelations based on the five lions traded to the Washington Zoo by Mr. Mc Millan bring great considerations of immense value and very significant details. According to Mr Millan, all five arrived at his farm as puppies and are wild-born. When sold, they were all young people in growth . The alterations found in a post-mortem examination, inflicted during the years in captivity (zoo + farm), predict that the drivers of so many morphological changes are far above the conception that is based only on food, and encompasses many issues, addressed here and others not, in the face of the knowledge of the time, which greatly enrich the understanding, showing that captivity does not serve as a reference for size and body appearance in wild lions, much less to move subspecies criteria.
Citation:
Quote:At Juja Farm the five lions were kept together in a stone building, perhaps 25 feet long, 15 feet from front to back, and 8 feet high. This was divided by a partition running from front to back, into two compartments, perhaps 15 and 10 feet wide. The roof was of galvanized iron. The floor was of con#crete, with good drainage so that it could be washed out with a hose. All sides were tight, except the front, which was closed with an iron grating. The place was poorly lighted and the animals had little chance to get into the direct sunlight.
At the park the lions were put into cages 10 feet wide, 8 feet deep from front to back, and 7 feet high. They were kept in these for about two years and then transferred to cages 12 feet 6 inches wide, 12 feet deep from front to back, and 9 feet high. These latter cages connect with outdoor cages 20 feet wide, 33 feet deep from front to back, and 10 feet high. The lions had free access to these outside cages during the day, whenever the weather was suitable.
The first male McMillan lion to die in the park was No. 197944, March 1, 1914. He had been in "Washington a little over four years and was, according to Mr. Baker's records, about six years of age at the time of death. The skull shows a fully adult animal with basi#sphenoid suture obliterated and with a fully developed sagittal crest. The skin is considerably darker, more ochraceous buff or cinnamon buff, than in wild-killed males of the same age. The general color of the back is more cinnamon buff; the black hair tips, though present, are less conspicuous against the darker ground color and the general appearance is therefore less grizzled, more reddish. The belly, throat, and inner sides of limbs are decidedly pinkish cinnamon instead of pinkish buff, as in all wild-killed males. The tufts at the back of elbows are long, luxuriant, and silky, mixed deep black and buff—much longer and fuller than in any wild-killed animal. There is a supplemental tuft of dark brown hair on each side of the lower belly. The mane is longer, more sillcy, and more cinnamon buff in color than in wild-killed lions. It extends far back on the withers and laterally onto the foreparts of the shoulders in curly masses. The tail is decidedly more ochraceous and black, instead of buff and blackish as normal in the subspecies.
The second male McMillan lion (No. 199707) died in the Zoo July 1, 1915, at an age of about seven and one-half years, five and one-half years of which had been spent in Washington. The skin of this lion is decidedly darker than any other East African specimen. The appearance of the animal has been greatly changed—from a pale grayish buff to a dark brownish ochraceous. The general color of the upper parts and sides of the body is dark tawny olive; of the belly^ throat, and insides of limbs cinnamon to pale ochraceous tawny. Tufts at backs of elbows are extraordinarily long, thick, and silky of rich black and buff hairs. Whereas in wild lions of equal age the hairs of these tufts average about 60 millimeters in length and are rarely over 80, in this specimen they are 200 millimeters in length. The mane is remarkably full and is not approached in this respect nor in its deep coloration by those of wild-killed lions. It is full and wide on the withers and luxuriant on the lower neck and anterior shoulders. The whole head, face, and mane are richly tinged with deep tawny and ochraceous. The tail is rich and dark in color, the black tip offering little contrast in shade from the general color of its upper side.
The greatest interest in the study of the McMillan lions compared with wild examples from the same region lies in the skull. The skulls of the captive animals are of a definite, uniform shape and differ from all the skulls of wild-killed lions in the Museum col- lection in a number of conspicuous characters. They are broader and shorter, more massive and bulky, and exhibit abundant relative differences which would be instantly accepted as of " specific " value in wild animals. The obvious reason ;for these great differences is that the principal muscles operating the jaws and neck (those muscles used by a wild lion in mauling and killing game, biting, gripping, and shaking) have had little influence on the shape of the bones during development. In a wild-reared lion these powerful muscles naturally and in a normal way mold the growing skull, par#ticularly in the regions of their attachment. The most conspicuous peculiarities of the McMillan lion slcuUs are the greater (relative and actual) zygomatic breadth, the large rostra, and the great distance across the base of the skull at the mas#toids. While actually measuring less in condvlobasal or greatest length than many of the wild massaica skulls of equal age, they have a far greater zygomatic breadth than any, averaging about 30 millimeters more in males and 20 millimeters more in females. (See detailed measurements, p. 192; and pi. 24.) All five of the McMillan lions, male and female, are, as already noted, fully adult, the skulls with basal sutures obliterated. All agree in most particulars in the differentiating characteristics, and compari#sons may be made with wild-killed skulls of Felis leo massaica from the same vicinity and of equal age, without special designation of specimens by number. The differences are sometimes most pro#nounced in males. Regions of attachment of the massete?' muscle.—Contrary to the usual textbook definition of its function, the masseter muscle un#questionably furnishes the chief gripping power; it is the one most exercised during use of the canine and incisor teeth.
Capacity of the hahicase.—As stated above, external measure- ments of the braincase in wild lions are less than in park-reared animals of equal age. The capacity of the braincase, however, is considerably greater. Young adults of each, as usual among carni#vores, have greater braincase capacity than old or aged adults. The bones forming the cranium of the Zoo lion are thicker, and the actual size of the brain is less than in w^ild-killed examples. In the case of the McMillan lions the capacity is about 50 cubic centimeters less in males and about 40 less in females, than in wild-killed ex- amples of equal age from the same locality. The "Richardson lion," from the New York Zoological Park, cele- brated as the record skull for greatest breadth,^ and the Menelik lion, the type-specimen of Felis leo roosevelti, are both park-reared ani- mals of uncertain history but they show the skull characters of cap#tive lions to a marked degree. Even the skulls of these enormous lions, although the animals represent forms unquestionably larger in a wild state than Felis leo massaica, have less braincase capacity than any wild-killed examples of the East African lion.
The mastoid breadth in a wild-killed adult male lion from Nairobi (No. 155443) is 135 millimeters; in a McMillan lion of the same age (No. 199707) it is 152. The lambdoidal ridge and occipital bones are broader in the Mc#Millan skulls than in any skulls of wild lions. Here again the splenius and complexus muscles, through nondevelopment, have failed to influence the bone as in a normal wild lion w^hose life is one of tearing and shaking of strong prey. The development of powerful neck muscles evidently begins in the wild lion at an early age.
[b]This remarkable change has taken place in the lions under artificial treatment. Might some such a change not happen in a state of nature? At numerous times in geologic history whole groups of animals have become extinct. In fact, this is the rule, and only a few of the types known from fossil remains have left living descendants. If all the imgulate mammals of Africa or in some one extensive region were swept away in a few years by a plague like the rinderpest, would the lion die out, or would he completely change his habits in one generation and become a feeder on mice, squirrels, birds, and fruit? In the latter case, would not the enforced disuse of the powerful mechanism for the destruction of zebras, hartebeest, and larger game produce in one generation, as with the park lions, a type of skull wholly different from that now known in a state of nature?equence without further data:
One can easily believe that if the ordinary wild lion skulls were known only from Miocene deposits and the specimens were com#pared with the Mc Millan lion skulls, they might be regarded as rep- resenting the ancestor of the latter. The great change would natu#rally be regarded as the result of slow variation continued over that long period of time. The use of zoological park material in the description of new forms of mammals should be discouraged. New names should never be based on animals in parks or on skins and skulls of specimens which have lived long in captivity. Relative dimensions (ratio of length to breadth) of skulls is shown by the McMillan lions to be easily changed by habit or environment. Great weight has often been placed on the ratio of length to breadth, as a deep-seated character. Paleontologists, especially, value such differences much higher than do workers in recent mammals who have access to large series of closely related subspecies and are fa- miliar with the variations they exhibit in this respect. The surpris#ing and uniform differences in this regard between the McMillan lion skulls and the skulls of wild-reared examples of Felis leo massaica are, nevertheless, a revelation to all mammalogists who have seen the specimens. [/b]
It seems unbelievable that all this knowledge and ability to argue and deduce situations that even today some are still suspicious of, was already present in the scientific knowledge of the beginning of the 20th century.
I appreciate the opportunity to read something so meaningful.
Note: To the moderators: this topic has many posts that have nothing to do with the subject. "When talking about lions and tigers, some connection must be made with the theme "Barbary".
The size of the Barbary lion
