The Barbary lion (Panthera leo leo), also known as the North African lion, Atlas lion, and Egyptian lion, was a lion population that roamed the mountains and deserts of the Maghreb region of North Africa, spanning from Morocco to Egypt. This majestic creature, admired for its size and distinctive features, met its demise due to hunting and habitat loss, leading to its extinction in the wild.
Historical Range and Habitat
The Barbary lion inhabited Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub areas. Historical records from the 19th and 20th centuries indicate that the Barbary lion persisted in Algeria until the early 1960s and in Morocco until the mid-1960s. The westernmost sighting of a Barbary lion reportedly occurred in the Anti-Atlas in western Morocco. In Algeria, the Barbary lion was sighted in the forested hills and mountains. In Libya, the Barbary lion persisted along the coast until the beginning of the 18th century, and it was extirpated in Tunisia by 1890.
Physical Characteristics
Barbary lions were known for their impressive size and distinctive appearance. Zoological specimens range in colour from light to dark tawny. Head-to-tail length of stuffed males in zoological collections varies from 2.35 to 2.8 m (7 ft 9 in to 9 ft 2 in), and of females around 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in). Skull size varied from 30.85 to 37.23 cm (1 ft 0.15 in to 1 ft 2.66 in). Some manes extended over the shoulder and under the belly to the elbows. Nineteenth-century hunter accounts claimed that wild males weighed from 270 to 300 kg (600 to 660 lb). Males were known for their long, dark manes that could extend to their chest and long, dark hair on their front legs and abdomen.
Diet and Hunting Habits
The Barbary lion functioned as an apex predator, preying on large herbivorous mammals such as deer, gazelles, wild boar, wild sheep, and livestock. Historical records suggest that they were often seen hunting as a unit. As human inhabitants became more numerous, the temptation for preying on livestock grew. Lions were a threat to mixed flocks (sheep and goats) which were kept in mountainous areas by pastoralists. Flocks up in the higher ground that would stay out but if the herder was wary they would put up rough stockades of thorn bushes as protection from leopards, jackals and hyenas. Cattle were also vulnerable and many accounts mention their demise at the jaws of lions. It would not be unusual for a rough stone shed or shelter to be made near regular pastures (especially in cattle pastures) for farmers to stay in overnight - more common in lowlands hills though. If a flock had been attacked previously, the farmer would stay in the hope the visiting predator would venture in again and could be shot.
Social Behaviour
In the early 20th century, when Barbary lions were rare, they were sighted in pairs or in small family groups comprising a male and female lion with one or two cubs. Between 1839 and 1942, sightings of wild lions involved solitary animals, pairs, and family units. Analysis of these sightings indicates that lions retained living in prides even when under increasing persecution, particularly in the eastern Maghreb.
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Extinction
By the mid-19th century, the Barbary lion population had massively declined, since bounties were paid for shooting lions. The last recorded shooting of a wild Barbary lion took place in 1942 near Tizi n'Tichka in the Moroccan part of the Atlas Mountains. Hunting was one of the primary reasons for its extinction. However, ecological changes with increasing human population also proved to be another serious cause. Their numbers greatly went down by the mid-19th century. Deforestation and shortage of natural food sources also added to their misery. In Tunisia, the last survivors were extirpated by the 1890s. Official record suggests that the last specimen was shot in 1942 in western Maghreb. However, this sub-species was often sighted in Algeria and Morocco till 1950s.
Conservation Status and Captive Populations
The Barbary lion has been considered extinct in the wild since the 1920s. Several individuals thought to be relatives of wild Barbary lions are still extant in zoos around the world. These lions stem from a group of 21 captive lions thought to have descended from wild Barbary lions kept by the Moroccan royal family during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Moroccan Sultan Muḥammad V kept them on the palace grounds until he was deposed and exiled by the French in 1953. This population had grown to 39 adults and 49 cubs by 1973, and all were handed over to the Rabat Zoo before several were sent to circuses and zoos in Europe. The remaining Moroccan lions were transferred to zoos in France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Cuba, and the United States by 1978; some 80 descendants of these original Moroccan lions remained in zoos by 2002.
Several zoos advertise the descendants of Moroccan lions as true Barbary lions. However, genetic studies that have attempted to link the surviving descendants of the Moroccan lions and Barbary lion stock remain inconclusive, since researchers have yet to rule out the notion that the lions kept by the Moroccan royal family were the products of breeding with sub-Saharan African lions. Nonetheless, genes of the Barbary lion are likely to be present in common European zoo lions, since this was one of the most frequently introduced subspecies.
Taxonomic Considerations
Until 2017, the Barbary lion was considered a distinct lion subspecies. Results of morphological and genetic analyses of lion samples from North Africa showed that the Barbary lion does not differ significantly from the Asiatic lion and falls into the same subclade.
In 1939, Glover Morrill Allen considered F. l. barbaricus and nubicus synonymous with F. l. In 1951, John Ellerman and Terence Morrison-Scott recognized only two lion subspecies in the Palearctic realm, namely the African lion Panthera leo leo and the Asiatic lion P. l. Some authors considered P. l. nubicus a valid subspecies and synonymous with P. l. In 2005, P. l. barbarica, nubica and somaliensis were subsumed under P. l. In 2016, IUCN Red List assessors used P. l. In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the Cat Specialist Group subsumed the lion populations in North, West and Central Africa and Asia to P. l.
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Results of a phylogeographic analysis using samples from African and Asiatic lions was published in 2006. One of the African samples was a vertebra from the National Museum of Natural History (France) that originated in the Nubian part of Sudan. In a comprehensive study about the evolution of lions in 2008, 357 samples of wild and captive lions from Africa and India were examined. Results showed that four captive lions from Morocco did not exhibit any unique genetic characteristic, but shared mitochondrial haplotypes with lion samples from West and Central Africa. They were all part of a major mtDNA grouping that also included Asiatic lion samples. Genome-wide data of a wild-born historical lion specimen from Sudan clustered with P. l. leo in mtDNA-based phylogenies, but with a high affinity to P. l.
Cultural Significance
The lion also appeared frequently in early Egyptian art and literature. Statues and statuettes of lions found at Hierakonpolis and Koptos in Upper Egypt date to the Early Dynastic Period. The early Egyptian deity Mehit was depicted with a lion head. In Ancient Egypt, the lion-headed deity Sekhmet was venerated as protector of the country. She represented destructive power, but was also regarded as protector against famine and disease. Lion-headed figures and amulets were excavated in tombs in the Aegean islands of Crete, Euboea, Rhodes, Paros and Chios. The Barbary lion is a symbol in Nubian culture and was often depicted in art and architecture.
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