Masai lion

Masai lion
Male Masai lion at Ngorongoro, Tanzania
Masai lioness at Samburu, Kenya
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. leo
Subspecies: P. l. melanochaita
Trinomial name
Panthera leo melanochaita
(Ch. H. Smith, 1842)
Synonyms

formerly P. l. massaica, P. l. roosevelti, P. l. sabakiensis[1]

The Masai lion or East African lion (Panthera leo melanochaita) is a lion population in East Africa.[2]

Formerly, it was recognized as a distinct subspecies under the scientific name Panthera leo massaica.[1][3][4] The type specimen is described as being from Tanganyika Territory in East Africa.[3] In 2017, the lion populations in East and Southern Africa were subsumed under P. l. melanochaita.[5]

Taxonomic history

The French zoologist de Blainville described a lion from Nubia under the trinomen Felis leo nubicus in 1843.[6] In 1891, two lions caught in Somalia were described under Felis leo somaliensis.[7][8] Already in the 1930s, all these specimens were considered synonymous with Felis leo leo.[3]

In the 1890s, the German zoologist Neumann observed lions in East Africa. He proposed the trinomen Felis leo massaica based on two type specimens, one male killed near Kibaya and one female killed at the Gurui River. They differ morphologically from lions caught in Somalia.[9] A decade later, the Swedish zoologist Lönnberg described two lion specimen from the environs of Mount Kilimanjaro under the name Felis leo sabakiensis that were killed during a Swedish zoological expedition to East Africa.[10] In 1914, the American zoologist Heller described a lion from the Ethiopian highlands under the name Felis leo roosevelti based on a male lion presented to Theodore Roosevelt.[11] In 1939, the American zoologist Allen recognized the trinomen Felis leo massaica as valid, and subordinated F. l. sabakiensis and F. l. roosevelti to this subspecies.[3]

Pocock subordinated lions to the genus Panthera in 1930, when he wrote about Asiatic lions.[12] Ellerman and Morrison-Scott recognized just two lion subspecies, namely the Asiatic P. l. persica and the African P. l. leo.[13] Various authors recognized between seven and 10 African lion subspecies.[6] In 2005, the authors of Mammal Species of the World considered P. l. massaica as a valid taxon.[1] Some considered it synonymous with P. l. nubica.[14]

Others followed the classification proposed by Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, recognizing two subspecies.[15] Some results of genetic analysis seem to corroborate this assessment, as East and Southern African lions seem to be rather closely related to each other.[14] They form a clade distinct from lion populations in North Africa.[16][17][2]

A phenotypic and genetic analysis of captive lions in the zoo of Addis Ababa showed that they were distinct from other lions.[18]

Characteristics

Lions in the Serengeti highlands often have very big manes.
A mature male lion with an intermediate mane development, in Amboseli National Park, Kenya.
Two male Tsavo lions with weak mane development in Kenya.

Neumann first described the Masai lion as being less cobby with longer legs and less curved backs than other lion subspecies. Males have moderate tufts of hair on the knee joint, and their manes are not full but look like combed backwards.[9]

Male Masai lions are known for a great range of mane types. Mane development is related to age: older males have more extensive manes than younger ones; manes continue to grow up to the age of four to five years, long after lions have become sexually mature. Males living in the highlands above 800 m (2,600 ft) altitude develop heavier manes than lions in the more humid and warmer lowlands of eastern and northern Kenya. The latter have scanty manes, or are even completely maneless.[19]

Male East African lions are generally 2.5–3.0 m (8.2–9.8 ft) long including the tail. Lionesses are generally smaller, at only 2.3–2.6 m (7.5–8.5 ft). Both male and female lions have a shoulder height of 0.9–1.10 m (3.0–3.6 ft). Males weigh about 145–205 kg (320–452 pounds), and females about 100–165 kg (220–364 lb).

A male near Mount Kenya weighed 272 kg (600 lb).[20]

Distribution and habitat

The Masai lion was first described on the basis of observations in northern Uganda, near Kavirondo, in southern Kenya, near Lake Manyara, around Mount Kilimanjaro and in the Tanga Region.[9]

Today, lion populations in Kenya and Tanzania are fragmented over 25 patches ranging in size from 86 to 127,515 km2 (33 to 49,234 sq mi).[21]

Conservation

African Panthera leo is included in CITES Appendix II. Many East African range countries have an infrastructure which supports wildlife tourism. Lions generate significant revenue for local communities thus providing a strong incentive for conservation.[2]

In captivity

In 2006, eight captive individuals were registered under the name P. l. massaicus from Uganda and Kenya, and 23 as P. l. nubicus from Tanzania by the International Species Information System.[22]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Wozencraft, W.C. (2005). "Order Carnivora". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 546. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. 1 2 3 Bauer, H.; Packer, C.; Funston, P.F.; Henschel, P. & Nowell, K. (2016). "Panthera leo". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2017-1. International Union for Conservation of Nature.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Allen, G. M. (1939). A Checklist of African Mammals. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College 83: 1–763.
  4. ↑ Stott, K. (1950). Locality records of African mammals. Journal of Mammalogy 31 (2): 185–189.
  5. ↑ Kitchener, A.C., Breitenmoser-Würsten, C., Eizirik, E., Gentry, A., Werdelin, L., Wilting, A. and Yamaguchi, N. (2017). "A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group" (PDF). Cat News. Special Issue 11: 76.
  6. 1 2 Hemmer, H. (1974). "Untersuchungen zur Stammesgeschichte der Pantherkatzen (Pantherinae) Teil 3. Zur Artgeschichte des Löwen Panthera (Panthera) leo (Linnaeus, 1758)". Veröffentlichungen der Zoologischen Staatssammlung 17: 167–280.
  7. ↑ Noack, T. (1891). "Felis leo". Jahrbuch der Hamburgischen Wissenschaftlichen Anstalten 9 (1): 120.
  8. ↑ Allen, J. A. (1924). "Carnivora Collected By The American Museum Congo Expedition". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 47: 73–281.
  9. 1 2 3 Neumann, O. (1900). Die von mir in den Jahren 1892–95 in Ost- und Central-Afrika, speciell in den Massai-Ländern und den Ländern am Victoria Nyansa gesammelten und beobachteten Säugethiere. Zoologische Jahrbücher. Abtheilung für Systematik, Geographie und Biologie der Thiere 13 (VI): 529–562.
  10. ↑ Lönnberg, E. (1910). "Mammals". In Sjöstedt, Y. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Schwedischen Zoologischen Expedition nach dem Kilimandjaro, dem Meru und den umgebenden Massaisteppen Deutsch-Ostafrikas 1905–1906. Volume 1. Uppsala: Königlich Schwedische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
  11. ↑ Heller, E. (1914). "New races of carnivores and baboons from equatorial Africa and Abyssinia". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 61 (19): 1–12.
  12. ↑ Pocock, R. I. (1930). "The lions of Asia". Journal of the Bombay Natural Historical Society 34: 638–665.
  13. ↑ Ellerman, J. R. and T. C. S. Morrison-Scott (1966). Checklist of Palaearctic and Indian Mammals 1758 to 1946 (Second ed.). London: British Museum (Natural History).
  14. 1 2 Haas, S.K.; Hayssen, V.; Krausman, P.R. (2005). "Panthera leo" (PDF). Mammalian Species. 762: 1–11. doi:10.1644/1545-1410(2005)762[0001:PL]2.0.CO;2.
  15. ↑ Meester, J., Setzer, H. W. (1977). The mammals of Africa. An identification manual. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
  16. ↑ O’Brien, S. J.; Martenson, J. S.; Packer, C.; Herbst, L.; de Vos, V.; Joslin, P.; Ott-Joslin, J.; Wildt, D. E. & Bush, M. (1987). "Biochemical genetic variation in geographic isolates of African and Asiatic lions" (PDF). National Geographic Research. 3 (1): 114–124. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-02.
  17. ↑ Dubach, J., Patterson, B. D., Briggs, M. B., Venzke, K., Flamand, J., Stander, P., Scheepers, L. and Kays, R. W. (2005). "Molecular genetic variation across the southern and eastern geographic ranges of the African lion, Panthera leo" (PDF). Conservation Genetics 6 (1): 15–24.
  18. ↑ Bruche, S.; Gusset, M.; Lippold, S.; Barnett, R.; Eulenberger, K.; Junhold, J.; Driscoll, C. A.; Hofreiter, M. (2012). "A genetically distinct lion (Panthera leo) population from Ethiopia". European Journal of Wildlife Research. 59 (2): 215–225. doi:10.1007/s10344-012-0668-5.
  19. ↑ Gnoske, T. P., Celesia, G. G., Kerbis Peterhans, J. C. (2006). Dissociation between mane development and sexual maturity in lions (Panthera leo): solution to the Tsavo riddle?. Journal of Zoology 270(4): 551–560. Abstract
  20. ↑ Smuts, G.L.; Robinson, G.A.; Whyte, I.J. (1980). "Comparative growth of wild male and female lions (Panthera leo)". Journal of Zoology. 190 (3): 365–373. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1980.tb01433.x.
  21. ↑ Dolrenry, S., Stenglein, J., Hazzah, L., Lutz, R.S. and Frank, L. (2014). "A metapopulation approach to African lion (Panthera leo) conservation". PloS one 9 (2): e88081.
  22. ↑ Barnett, R., Yamaguchi, N., Barnes, I., Cooper, A. (2006). The origin, current diversity and future conservation of the modern lion (Panthera leo). Proceedings of the Royal Society B 273 (1598): 2119–2125. doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.3555 PMID 16901830
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.