Tiergarten Schönbrunn Vienna Zoo has "Barbary" lion cubs

What a poor story... its as if the zoo thinks that ordinary lions can somehow produce 'Barbary lions' in the same way normal tigers might produce a white cub. Vienna must know if their breeding stock are 'registered' as Barbary or not (although even if they were it doesn't mean much)

 

I doubt that the zoo "thinks" in that manner; more likely, the local press just formed their very own story out of it, adding and editing whatever they think will work...

 

Yes, I didn't phrase it very well.... the way the story is written is what is bad, not the zoo. Obviously Vienna would know whether their lions are registered 'Barbary' or not... Are they?

On the same subject, how do you view the 'Barbary' scenario? A waste of time and effort, or a worthwhile attempt to maintain or recreate animals similar in appearance to the original stock..?

 

I think the female lion in Vienna is from the so-called "barbary" stock. The father is a "zoo"-lion - hybrid of unkown subspecies.

 

Thanks Yassa. That explains the story a bit more clearly.

Do you know anything about the Lions at Neuwied Zoo? They are said to have (at least) one which has been DNA tested and shown 'not to be from SubSaharan Africa.' Any further information on that?

 

The Neuwied lions have been imported directly from Rabat Zoo a few years ago and had a number of cubs (2 females each are now living in Erfurt and Berlin, but with a "zoomix" lion as partner).

I havn`t heard about any genetic tests regarding them, sorry.

 

It sounds a bit dubious then...

 

Dna test could solve everything, no harm in doing so, unless the results come back and they aren't Babary or this Atlas species, then the zoo keepers would obviously be dissapointed,

 

No, it doesn't solve everything. In the case of the Niewied Zoo lion, it is supposed to have shown the lion was NOT from subsaharan Africa. But it did not say it matched with known Barbary lions in museums either. All other DNA tests done so far on 'Barbary' Lions have indicated the reverse- they do originate from subsaharan Africa- this includes so-called 'pure' lions from Rabat Zoo in Morocco- and therefore their descendants at places like Port Lympne and now Belfast.

What happens is the zoos concerned don't want to accept this 'proof' these lions are not really from Barbary stock, so they just continue with their conservation/lion breeding project as before, even if it then becomes a relatively pointless exercise..

 

I know the lions in Neuwied, and if they are not true atlas it´s not the point. They look different to all other lions i know, and i think that counts.
I mean, after your understanding amur and chinese leopard (both had in beginning of the breading programm other spp in the breed) and also asiatic Wildhorses (were crossed with domestic-horses) are not pure... So what. There noone says anything...

 

The point is that the DNA tests that have been done so far shows these lions which have been tested don't come from Barbary stock at all. Its like testing some supposedly Amur leopards and then finding they don't have any Amur blood in them at all.

I don't know about the Neuwied lions though- this could be a different case if they were DNA tested and proved not to originate from south of the Sahara. At least that is more hopeful. Maybe you can find out more?

 

I'll be visitig Neuwied in the next months, so I´ll ask someone.

And now for all of you who want to see the lions from Neuwied, here are some pics a frind of me took. Aspecily look at the lions faces.

here

an here

here too

now klick here

and, at last here