Tigers with mane

[Sicilianu]

Indeed that is likely the gist of it. I think that primitive Panthera likely had a gene (or genes) for a small mane that would crop up when certain environmental factors favored the expression of the gene - taken to the extreme in male lions, who have a social system that facilitates increased intraspecific aggression and by extension signaling to decrease unnecessary intraspecific aggression. DNA-Genes-Environment are so linked that is can be hard parse out individual contributions to a physical state. Reply