Talk:African lion
Redirecting African lion to Lion#Africa
What I am thinking of is editing that section on the lion's distribution and habitat into 2 sections, one for Eurasia, the other for Africa, and then redirecting African lion to the sub-section for Africa, that way, we can have a more valid link for African lion IMO, rather than African lion having to redirect to the whole article of Lion, since that article also talks about extant Asiatic lions and prehistoric cave lions. What do you think? Leo1pard (talk) 14:55, 30 May 2017 (UTC)
I mean in a geographic way, not a taxonomic way. Leo1pard (talk) 16:12, 30 May 2017 (UTC)
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Leo1pard (talk) 09:47, 29 November 2017 (UTC)
Types (populations or subspecies) of African lions
Old classification(s)
| Subspecies | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Barbary lion (P. l. leo), also called the "Atlas lion", "Berber lion" or "North African lion" | Formerly found in the Maghreb, this is the nominate lion subspecies from North Africa. It is extinct in the wild due to excessive hunting; the last, known Barbary lion in the wilderness was killed in Morocco in 1920.[1][2] This was regarded as being one of the largest subspecies,[3] with reported lengths of 3.0–3.3 m (9.8–10.8 ft) and weights of more than 200 kg (440 lb) for males. Besides West and certain Central African lions, it is more closely related to the Asiatic lion than to other African lions.[4] A number of animals in captivity are likely to be Barbary lions,[5] particularly the 90 animals descended from the Moroccan Royal collection at Rabat Zoo.[6] |  |
| Subspecies | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Senegal lion (P. l. senegalensis), also known as "West African lion" | Found in West Africa.[7][8] It is currently listed as critically endangered, as of 2015. West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana,[9] Mali, Nigeria, Niger and Senegal |  |
| Gambian lion (P. l. gambianus) | Formerly found in the Gambia.[10] |  |
| Subspecies | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Cameroon lion (P. l. kamptzi) | Found in Cameroon and the region south of Lake Chad, in Central or Western Africa.[11] |  |
| Northeast Congo lion (P. l. azandica), or simply the "Congo lion" | Found in the northeastern parts of the Congo, adjacent to Uganda.[7] It is currently extinct in Rwanda. Central Africa:[12] (Democratic Republic of the Congo) |  |
| Subspecies | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Nubian lion (P. l. nubica) | From Nubia in Northeast Africa.[13] | _(18243500220).jpg) |
| Somali lion (P. l. somaliensis syn. P. l. webbiensis | From Somaliland or Somalia, East Africa.[14][15] | _(14592552427).jpg) |
| Masai lion (P. l. massaica) | Found in East Africa, from Ethiopia and Kenya to Tanzania and Mozambique;[8] a local population is known as the "Tsavo lion". |  |
| Ethiopian lion (P. l. roosevelti syn. P. l. abyssinica), also known as "Abyssinian lion" and "Addis Ababa lion" | 15 captive lions in the Addis Ababa Zoo.[16] Researchers compared the microsatellite variations over ten loci of fifteen lions in captivity with those of six different wild lion populations. They determined that these lions are genetically unique and presumably that "their wild source population is similarly unique." These lions were part of a collection of the late Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.[17] Northeast Africa: (Ethiopia) |  |
| Kilimanjaro lion (P. l. sabakiensis) | From the northern vicinity of Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa.[18] |  |
| Ugandan lion (P. l. nyanzae) | Found in Uganda, East Africa.[11] |  |
| Sotik lion (P. l. hollisteri), also known as "Hollister's lion" or "Lake Victoria lion" | Found on the eastern bank of Lake Victoria in Kenya, East Africa.[11] | _-_Male_Lion_Sotik_Plains_1909.png) |
| Subspecies | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Cape lion (P. l. melanochaita) | Formerly found from the Cape Province to Natal, South Africa.[19][20] |  |
| Katanga lion (P. l. bleyenberghi), also known as the "Angola lion", "Bleyenbergh's lion" or "Southwest African lion" | Found in southwestern Africa. It is among the largest populations of African lions. The type specimen was from Katanga in what in what used to be the Belgian Congo in central Africa.[14][21] Central Africa: Formerly Katanga (Congo-Kinshasa) Southern Africa: Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe[8] |  |
| Kruger lion (P. l. krugeri), also known as the "Southeast African lion", "South African lion" or "Transvaal lion" | Found in the Transvaal region of southeast Africa, including Kruger National Park.[8] Southern Africa: (Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe) |  |
| Kalahari lion (P. l. vernayi) | Found in the Kalahari Region of Southern Africa.[11] | .jpg){kind=spacer} |
Leo1pard (talk) 17:55, 13 October 2018 (UTC)
New classification
| Subspecies | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| P. l. leo[22][23] (Linnaeus, 1758)[24] | Lions in Western, Central and Northern Africa. | |
| P. l. melanochaita[22] (Smith, 1842)[24] | Lions in Eastern and Southern Africa. | |
Leo1pard (talk) 09:47, 29 November 2017 (UTC)
Did you know?
Saber-toothed cats appear to have coexisted with the lion in the prehistoric times. One machairodontine species from Central Africa, which came before the lion, was Amphimachairodus kabir.[1]
Leo1pard (talk) 13:36, 29 November 2017 (UTC)
See also
Leo1pard (talk) 16:54, 30 November 2017 (UTC)
No such thing as the African lion
The African lion is not a single population as stated in the opening sentence. In fact, there is no lion population that can be reasonably called an African lion. A case can be made for the African lion being all modern lions, including those that have recently spread into Asia, as opposed to older fossil lions and cave lions, but this is rarely done.
This article is about lions in Africa so why not use the title Lions in Africa, although it will be largely redundant with the lion article. Jts1882 | talk 16:12, 29 September 2018 (UTC)
- The Cat Specialist Group doesn't agree with that.[1] Note that even for the Asiatic lion, in another page,[2] they said that though it was classified as Panthera leo persica, it now belongs to Panthera leo leo according to the new classification,[3] meaning that this page isn't outdated.[1] It talks about the African and Asiatic populations, besides recognising the subspecies. Leo1pard (talk) 12:34, 2 October 2018 (UTC)
- Jts1882 is right, you're confusing geographic populations with subspecies now. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 11:16, 2 October 2018 (UTC)
- No, I'm not confused, I said that African lions are divided into different subspecies, and that one of these subspecies includes the Asiatic lion, that's what the Cat Specialist Group shows, amongst others.[1][2][3] Leo1pard (talk) 12:34, 2 October 2018 (UTC)
- An article called African lion is different from one called African lions or Lions of Africa. The former implies a common name, which would have been appropriate when it was recognised as a subspecies, but is no longer. The latter refers to lions of the continent and could discuss the subspecies and populations. I think the idea of an article embracing all subspecies and populations is more suitable and could include your draft tables. I suggested Subspecies of lion elsewhere and someone else has suggested Taxonomy of lions. Neither are quite right, but the important point is to decide how distribute the information on lions into a few articles with clearly defined scope. Jts1882 | talk 13:20, 2 October 2018 (UTC)
- I have modified it to make it clearer that African lions are divided into different clades and subspecies, but since the CSG used the singular form "African lion",[1] I see no point in renaming it as "African lions", partly for the sake of simplicity in linking from other relevant pages to this article. Leo1pard (talk) 17:18, 2 October 2018 (UTC)
- An article called African lion is different from one called African lions or Lions of Africa. The former implies a common name, which would have been appropriate when it was recognised as a subspecies, but is no longer. The latter refers to lions of the continent and could discuss the subspecies and populations. I think the idea of an article embracing all subspecies and populations is more suitable and could include your draft tables. I suggested Subspecies of lion elsewhere and someone else has suggested Taxonomy of lions. Neither are quite right, but the important point is to decide how distribute the information on lions into a few articles with clearly defined scope. Jts1882 | talk 13:20, 2 October 2018 (UTC)
- No, I'm not confused, I said that African lions are divided into different subspecies, and that one of these subspecies includes the Asiatic lion, that's what the Cat Specialist Group shows, amongst others.[1][2][3] Leo1pard (talk) 12:34, 2 October 2018 (UTC)
- Jts1882 is right, you're confusing geographic populations with subspecies now. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 11:16, 2 October 2018 (UTC)