Lions in AUS zoos
- Thread starter jones
- Start date
Its not just in Australia. Lion classification is an ongoing debate, which makes the issue of lions in zoos, often descended from diverse stock, all the more complicated.
I would assume that within in the region, most zoos displaying lions descended from unknown or historic imports are simply listed as Panthera Leo whereas lions with known ancestry are listed under their currently assumed subspecies. Certainly, all the recent imports i know of (including white lions) have have been from South Africa making them P.l. krugeri. However I am unsure of when and whom imported animals from western Africa.
Since lions have such variable physical appearance, heavily influenced by local conditions, I am probably one to throw my support behind the genetics, that suggest the Sahara has been the primary historic boundary between lion populations. South of that we have the African lion, and North of that we have the Asiatic lion.
The extinct Barbary (yes extinct), European lion and the Asiatic lion of India were actually one and the same. certain studies seem to back this up.
They are now at Werribee (sister park of Melbourne Zoo)
Sorry, my mistake. Are any lions worldwide managed by sub-species levels (I seem to think P. l. Krugeri are?) apart from 'Barbary Lions'?
ISIS lists 40.33 lions in the region with 19.15 being classed as 'Panthera Leo", 2.5 listed as 'Hybrid', 5.7 listed as 'P. l. Krugeri' and 14.6 listed as 'Senegal'. According to ISIS, only our region (6 institutions in Australia and 1 in NZ) have Senegal Lions.
I'm sure it must be an ISIS blip regarding the Senegal lions. The only 'pure' lions imported have been the various Southern African animals in the last decade (and a bit).
Any "blips" in data shown on the ISIS web site are due to what has been sent to them by the reporting institutions. ISIS don't create the data, they simply combine what its members send them and then make a subset of those data available on their web site.
Speaking of these two boys they celebrated their 15th birthdays today.
Assuming we are counting the 'traditional' African subspecies (recent studies suggest only two surviving lion subspecies anyway are African and Asian):
Asian Lions (P. l. persica - occasionally given as goojratensis) are an EEP taxon in Europe.
There have also been attempts to set up an Angolan Lion (bleyenberghi) population in Europe - hampered, as I understand, first by some of the animals being found not to be pure bleyenberghi and then by the confusion as to whether bleyenberghi is even a valid subspecies (see above!).
As far as I'm aware, the only krugeri in Europe are the white lion population, which are managed separately.
Basel's animals are allegedly Kalahari Lions (vernayi).
I didn't say that ISIS per se were to blame, as it is the institutions that do input the data. However odd things do come up due to outdated taxonomy or hitting the wrong button. Having previously been someone that has inputted data, it is amazing how many small mistakes crop up when the ARKS program informs you. Also records officers are not always knowledgeable about the actual species in their own collection and will often make a decision on a best fit. It is only when the keepers notice these mistakes will they be fixed.