Einar Lonnberg was the first person who described the Southwest African lion in 1914. [101], At the beginning of the 21st century, the Addis Ababa Zoo kept 16 adult lions. There is significant genetic variation within lion subspecies. Find the perfect katanga lion southwest african lion stock photo. P. l. nubica, known as the East African or Masai lion is found in East Africa, from Ethiopia and Kenya to Tanzania and Mozambique;[30] a local population is known as the Tsavo lion. Panthera leo melanochaita is a lion subspecies in Southern and East Africa. According to local media and online reviews of the lodge, van Biljon was widely known as “The Lion Man.” Cullinan is a small town east of Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. Paperback $6.79 $ 6. Large prey that are killed are dragged back to the pride area are shared with the other group members. By contrast, subadult dispersing male lions avoided grasslands and shrublands, but moved in human-dominated areas to a larger extent. Between 1990 and 2004, lions killed more than 560 people in Tanzania, mostly during harvest season in crop fields and in areas where natural prey is scarce. Prey base depletion, loss and conversion of habitat have led to a number of subpopulations becoming small and isolated. A population assessment in 2010 observed a skew in the sex structure with a greater proportion of males (56%) which raised concerns about the long-term sustainability of the greater KTP lion population. Between 1974 and 2012, 471 coalitions comprising 796 male lions entered a study area of 2,000 km2 (770 sq mi). [77] [104], The lion is an animal symbol in shamanistic rituals of the Nuer people. [49] They have been bred in South African camps for use as trophies to be killed during canned hunts.[50]. ", "The devil is in the dispersers: predictions of landscape connectivity change with demography", "Seasonal diet and prey preference of the African lion in a waterhole-driven semi-arid savanna", "Lion predation on elephants in the Savuti, Chobe National Park, Botswana", "The Science of 'Man-Eating*' Among Lions, 10.2982/0012-8317(2001)90[1:TSOMAL]2.0.CO;2, "South African lions eat 'poacher', leaving just his head", "Suspected poacher mauled to death by lions close to Kruger National Park", "Lion kills woman at refuge of South African 'lion whisperer, "Lions eat 'rhino poachers' on South African game reserve", "Lion MASSACRE as six big cats die after eating 'poison, "Zimbabwe's 'iconic' lion Cecil killed by hunter", "Xanda, son of Cecil the lion, killed by hunter in Zimbabwe", "Prioritizing core areas, corridors and conflict hotspots for Lion conservation in Southern Africa", "Lion poaching: the brutal new threat to Africa's prides", $0.5m funding to stop the decline in the population of African lions. Despite that, they are usually content to scavenge, preferring to eat dead animals already killed by other predators and natural events. [79], Lions usually hunt in groups and prey foremost on ungulates such as gemsbok (Oryx gazella), Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer), blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), common eland (Tragelaphus oryx), greater kudu (T. strepsiceros), nyala (T. angasii), roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus), sable antelope (H. niger), plains zebra (Equus quagga), bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus), common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus), hartebeest (Alcephalus buselaphus), common tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus), waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus), kob (K. kob) and Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii). The Southwest African lion (formerly Panthera leo bleyenberghi) or 'Katanga lion is a population of Southern lion that lives in southwestern Africa. The Southwest African Lion is obligatory carnivorous. Fully matured adult males are usually around 8.2 to 9.8 feet (2.5 to 3 meters) long. Several cases of lion attacking people have been documented: In Africa, lions are threatened by pre-emptive killing or in retaliation for preying on livestock. Today, lion populations are stable only in large protected area complexes. In 1936, a man-eating lion shot in 1936 in eastern Transvaal weighed about 313 kg (690 lb), and was considered to have been one of the heaviest wild lions. It is among the largest subspecies of African lions. Panthera leo melanochaita includes lion populations from southern parts of Africa (Katanga lion and the Southeast African lion) and East Africa (Masai lion and Ethiopian lion… It has normal pigmentation in eyes and skin. Hence, dispersing lions are more vulnerable to coming into conflict with humans than adult lions. Lions, which live in groups called prides, are the most social cats.The size of a pride depends on food availability, but a typical group includes three males, a dozen females, and their cubs. 6. What Will It Take to Save the East African Lion from Extinction? The dramatic decline in lion populations across Africa started in the beginning of XX century, when big game, especially lions and elephants, were massively exterminated in hunting safaris of “white hunters” from Western countries. The lion-bone trade is a new threat that could have been avoided. Get it as soon as Thu, Oct 29. Get a 30.000 second southwest african lion family stock footage at 25fps. Two or more prides shared home ranges. [82] In October 2005, a pride of up to 30 lions killed eight African bush elephants that were between four and eleven years old.[83]. [32], The lion's fur varies in colour from light buff to dark brown. [19] It has also been referred to as 'Eastern-Southern African lion',[27] 'Southern lion',[29][26] and as 'southern subspecies'. Between 1966 and 1972, two observed lion prides comprised between seven and 10 females each. [5][17][18][19][20] [4], The type specimen for P. l. melanochaita was a black-maned lion from the Cape of Good Hope, known as the Cape lion. Lion prides avoided acacia woodlands and preferred habitats near water courses with short grasses, where also prey species gathered. Choose from a wide range of similar … In this part of Africa, lion populations are regionally extinct in Lesotho, Djibouti and Eritrea, and threatened by loss of habitat and prey base, killing by local people in retaliation for loss of livestock, and in several countries also by trophy hunting. [71] Its length is an indicator for age and fighting ability of the lion. Lionesses are hostile to other lionesses outside their pride. Book flight reservations, rental cars, and hotels on southwest.com. In other East African cultures, it symbolizes laziness. They have a shoulder height of around 3 to 4 feet (0.9-1.2 meters) when standing on all fours. [3] In 2005, a Lion Conservation Strategy was developed for East and Southern Africa. [80] In the Serengeti National Park, lions were observed to also scavenge on carrion of animals that were killed by other predators, or died from natural causes. [2] Two lion subspecies are now recognised:[1], Genome-wide data of a wild-born historical lion sample from Sudan clustered with P. l. leo in mtDNA-based phylogenies, but with a high affinity to P. l. melanochaita. [19] In 1975, Vratislav Mazák hypothesized that the Cape lion evolved geographically isolated from other populations by the Great Escarpment. They received global media attention in 2015 after an American dentist went on a hunt and killed a well-known Southwest African Lion, named “Cecil the Lion”, in Zimbabwe. However, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP) is a stronghold for the species. African lions typically weigh 265 to 420 lbs. Download this stock image: Katanga Lion or Southwest African Lion, panthera leo bleyenberghi, Pair - X3W52T from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors. [19] Southeastern Ethiopia is therefore considered a genetic admixture zone between Central and East African lions. I’ll teach you at least two things you didn’t already know. PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida. [98][99], Uncontrolled bushfires and hunting of lions and prey species in Zambia's Kafue National Park make it difficult for the lion population to recover. [106] Lion is known to be the King of Beasts (Lion – King of the jungle) across most cultures of the world. [2] IUCN regional offices and many wildlife conservation organisations cooperated to develop a Lion Conservation Strategy for Eastern and Southern Africa in 2006. [51], In Serengeti National Park, monitoring of lion prides started in 1966. Nomadic coalitions became resident at between 3.5 and 7.3 years of age. Local communities in several Southern African lion range countries generate significant income through wildlife tourism, which is a strong incentive for their support of conservation measures. Established in 1964, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species. They are coordinated hunters and hunt in packs. leo. The United States has classified this and other African Lion species as endangered. It is assumed that their ancestors, five males and two females, were caught in southwestern Ethiopia as part of a zoological collection for Emperor Haile Selassie I. Females average 124.2–149.8 kg (274–330 lb) in Southern Africa and 119.5–145.8 kg (263–321 lb) in East Africa. melanochaita) The Katanga lion or the Southwest African lion (Panthera leo bleyenberghi) is found in southwestern Africa in the countries of Angola, Zaire, western Zambia and Zimbabwe, Namibia, and northern Botswana. Samples from West Africa shared alleles with samples from Southern Africa, and samples from Central Africa shared alleles with samples from Asia. How many babies does a lion have? Four of these samples clustered with samples from Central Africa, and four with samples from East Africa, indicating that the Great Rift Valley, Ethiopia was not a complete barrier to gene flow.