Why are so many accredited and reputable zoos clinging onto this 'barbary' lion thing? Im not really educated enough on the subject but the general consensus is that they are a complete hybrid mix from what I have heard. Is their any evidence that they have any significant barbary lion lineage? If they want to display a threatened lion subspecies thats admirable, but there are actual living subspecies of lion which are threatened and could use a captive population. Recent genetic research put the lions from Northwest/central Africa as the same subspecies as Asiatic lions, Panthera Leo Leo. Distinct from Panthera Leo Melanochaita in southern/eastern Africa. There is already a breeding program for the Indian locality, potentially a breeding program for the threatened locality in of West African Lions (less than 250 in population) would be the most appropriate. They are probably the closest related to the Barbary lion as I recall lions first migrated around the jungles of central Africa going from western Africa to the northern Barbary coast and eventually into southern Asia. They are African lions so they would fit in with many zoos themed exhibits. They are said to be slightly smaller with shorter manes than lions from other parts of Africa, although it has been largely accepted that these characteristics cant be attributed to distinct subspecies. It would make sense that the founding population come from western Africa, to get founding stock as far from P. l. Melanochaita as possible because their is still some questions around interbreeding between subspecies in central Africa
Just my thoughts... I could be wrong on some of this stuff because my memory is fuzzy, please correct me if so!
