"A genetically distinct lion (Panthera leo) population from Ethiopia"

A genetically distinct lion (Panthera leo) population from Ethiopia - Online First - Springer

 

Only shows the abstract, not the full article, but a fascinating premise nonetheless.

 

Unfortunately so At first I thought they were referring to the Barbary lion, and I'm still not 100% certain that they aren't. But around half of those lions are in the Rabat Zoo in Morocco (n=32), and the other half are apparently dispersed throughout the world:

Zoo fights to save 'extinct' lion - National animal behavior | Examiner.com

So it seems unlikely that they are referring to Barbary lions.

 

Good find Chlidonias!

 

I'm yet to find out what exactly they mean by "genetically distinct". I don't know if they mean subspecies distinct, or entire species distinct.

I dislike the term "subspecies" anyhow. Such a loose word. For example, the Sunda Clouded Leopard and the Mainland Clouded Leopard are declared different species, even without many differences beside geographic location, but Cape Buffalo and Forest Buffalo are still kept subspecies despite a load of physical adaptation related differences.

Damn you, DNA similarities!!!

 

Newest publication has 4 species of buffalo in Africa (Cape and Forest being 2 of the 4).

 

Well....I'm missing something.

*facepalm*

 

Dramatic revision of Artiodactyla and Perissodactyla last year. Nearly doubled the species count.

 

The lion enclosures look horrible. I will try to get the full paper on Monday and see what they say about improving the lives of the lions.

 

Isn't there a massive masterplan somewhere for a new zoo in Addis?

 

It sounds very like the 'Barbary Lion' story again but located in Ethiopia but this time these Lions have been shown to be genetically distinct. That is unlike the Barbary Lions in Rabat and elsewhere. I have heard previously that these 'Halie Selasie' Lions were thought possiby to be Barbaries also. But presumably its now revealed this is a different race or subspecies of Lion?

The physical traits described- heavy dark mane, prounced belly mane etc do sound just like the ones usually cited for Barbaries though. I noticed in the photo of the maned male lying with the female that he shows no sign of a belly mane- so despite the blurb, again it seems their purity may be suspect?

I think the 'Examiner' article about Rabat Zoo and their Lions may be a rehash. I believe its now accepted from DNA evidence that these Lions came from other parts of Africa, not from the Atlas mountains.

 

Folks, I am confused as to why no one seems to be able to access the full article. When I clicked the link at home (i.e. not in a university etc), the attached photo shows what I see (after closing the pop-up preview that says it can't load). When I click the 'download file' button I was able to download the PDF in its entirety.

Can anyone else do this? Maybe it is available in Australia?

 

Here are a few quotes from the article:

"To our knowledge, the males at Addis Ababa Zoo are the
last extant lions to possess a large, dark mane extending
from the head, neck and chest right down to the belly"

The results clearly show that
the lions from Addis Ababa belong to the African lion
population rather than to the Asian one, as speculated by
Tefera (2003). This conclusion is supported not only by the
cluster analyses but also by the fact that the lions from Addis
Ababa display the 237-bp allele at locus FCA249, which is
diagnostic for African lions, rather than the 239-bp allele
specific to Asian lions."

"Our population structure analyses show the existence
of three African lion clusters: Addis Ababa, northeastern
Africa (Ngorongoro and Serengeti) and southwestern
Africa (Etosha, Kalahari and Kruger; Figs. 2
and 3)"

"Although the principal component
analysis suggests that the lions from Addis Ababa are— in accordance with their proposed geographical origin—
more closely related to north-east African lions, they are
substantially different from lions in both north-eastern
and south-western Africa. The comparatively high number
of private alleles found in the Addis Ababa lions
further underlines their genetic uniqueness. Given the
observed low inbreeding coefficient in the Addis
Ababa lions, their genetic distinctiveness does not seem
to be a consequence of repeated inbreeding in captivity."

"It should be noted that the lions from Addis Ababa
could be more closely related to other populations not
sampled in our microsatellite study, such as those from
Kenya or Uganda investigated by Antunes et al. (2008).
Unfortunately, a meaningful comparison with these data
was not possible since only two microsatellite loci from
our study (FCA006 and FCA211) were investigated in
that study. However, given the substantial population
subdivision of wild lions (Antunes et al. 2008), it is
likely that the genetic distinctiveness of the Addis
Ababa lions will hold up when additional populations
are incorporated into the analysis."

 

You need to pay for access to the Springer documents. If you can download then you have access, or you have been granted access by your workplace.

Access usually has copyright restrictions about publishing excerpts; I don't know what Springer's restrictions are but the above quotes exceed 250 words.

Hix

 

Yeah that's weird. I accessed it from my laptop at home which is not connected to a work network. I hope it did not automatically access my credit card details!

Anyway, Springerlink is ok with a 500 word excerpt so we are ok with my copy and paste, which is just over 300 words.

 

Thanks for taking the time to list these Quotes from the article.

A couple of points to consider;

1. The statement about mane development seems very ambiguous. For a start a lot of Lions from different locations still exhibit thick dark manes extending right down the chest and under the belly. It is often quoted as a 'Barbary' trait but against that is also argued that many male Lions from completely different areas also show this and can develop this appearance when kept in colder climates too.

2. As I pointed out above, in one of the photos of the Addis Lions, a male depicted shows no sign of any belly hair at all, so how does that fit with their theory?
-* One explanation has now been provided below*.

3. Its now believed Asian Lions and extinct(?) Barbary Lions are representatives/related subspecies of Lions that were once widespread north of the Sahara. If these Ethiopian Lions are not genetically connected with them, as appears the case, then they must be another race of 'African' Lion and not connected with Barbaries.

 

I saw yesterday again an old TV-Reportage from Zoo Leipzig about these lions which was made in 2007. The zoo director and the veterinarian asks the keepers of the lion zoo because of the missing belly mane of some adult male lions. The solution was, that they have a fungal disease before and the missing belly mane was a side effect of the medicaments. But it was said that the mane is slowly come back. I think the photos which are credited by Jörg Junhold and Klaus Eulenberger was taken in 2007 while their visit in the lion zoo.

 

Thanks, that's a legitimate explanation then, if it is correct. Maybe all the males have their belly manes again now- 5 years later than those photos!