Asian lions in America? Interesting! I have heard that the Asian lions in American zoos were found to be mixed with Africans, which is why you don't see them often anymore. Is this accurate? If so, does anyone know what became of the lions of this mixed population?
Asian lions in America? Interesting! I have heard that the Asian lions in American zoos were found to be mixed with Africans, which is why you don't see them often anymore. Is this accurate? If so, does anyone know what became of the lions of this mixed population?
You are correct that the AZA Asian Lion Species Survival Plan got shut down because there was some hybridization with African lions discovered in the gene pool. The hybrid lions ceased breeding and lived out their lives as non-breeding exhibit animals. The Asian lion program shut down almost 25 years ago so I would guess that most or all of them have died now. The AZA zoos now focus exclusively on African lions and several new founders have been brought in to reboot the African lion SSP.
100% correct. There is a section on this topic in the book Sailing With Noah by St Louis Zoo director Jeffrey Bonner. He was director of Indianapolis Zoo at the time the lion SSP was established and disagreed with the decision to go with african lions. He felt it should have been set up for asian lions (with new founders), but the majority voted for african lions (with new founders).
