As the king of the forest, the lion is very powerful beasts, but also the second largest cat after the tiger, as the largest hunter in Africa, some lions are also very large, but unfortunately all extinct.
The world's largest lion
How big is the world's largest lion
The lion (scientific name: Panthera leo) male body length of up to 260 centimeters, weighing 180 to 250 kilograms, with a mane on the neck, the female beasts of the body is smaller, generally only and the male beasts of the two-thirds of the body, is the only female and male bimodal and It is the only dioecious and group-living feline. Distributed in most parts of Africa and India and other places in Asia, living in the open grassland forested areas or semi-desert areas, habits and tigers, leopards and other beasts of prey have a lot of significant differences, is the highest degree of evolution in the feline. The female beast of the pregnancy period of 105—116 days, each litter of 2—5 children, there are as many as 7 children, mostly born in the bushes or caves. The life expectancy of lions is 20—25 years.
Male lions have exaggerated manes, and African lions are large and one of the largest cats . Comprehensive statistics,
Lion wild African male lions average weight of 180 kilograms, body length of 1.8 to 2.5 meters, tail length of 1 meter (Dictionary). The lions in various regions have been measured by a number of scientific studies, in which the maximum value of male lions in the Zimbabwe reserve 242 kg, minimum 172 kg, an average of 174 kg, and more than 272 kg found in northern Zimbabwe. Lionesses averaged 139.8 kg with a maximum of 165 kg and a minimum of 110 kg. Kalahari male lions averaged 188.4 kg, maximum 214 kg, minimum 164 kg, and female lions averaged 139.8 kg, maximum 153 kg, minimum 127 kg. Kruger Park male lions averaged 187.5 kg, maximum 225 kg, minimum 150 kg and lionesses averaged 124.2 kg, maximum 153 kg, minimum 83 kg. East African male lions averaged 174.9 kg, with a maximum of 204.7 kg and a minimum of 145.4 kg. Lionesses average 119.5 kg, maximum 167 kg and minimum 90 kg. Lions in the Transvaal region have appeared to be measured at 251 kg, and a male lion was measured in Etosha National Park, Namibia, in 1982, weighing 260 kg, making it the largest measured scientific record. five male lions were measured in Zimbabwe in 2005, three of which weighed 199 kg, 209 kg, and 211 kg. In addition, the largest male lion in the wild weighs up to 270 kg and has a total body length of more than 3 m. There are many records of large individuals, including a lion shot in Kenya in 1960 that weighed 272 kg and a lion shot in South Africa in 1996 that weighed more than 270 kg in an empty stomach (from the Kenya Wildlife Service). Another wild male hunting record is 313 kg, shot in South Africa in 1930. The largest hunting record for a wild male lion in Africa is 341 kg (from a famous Japanese website introducing lions and tigers and some scientific literature, but not yet recognized by the relevant zoology). The hunting record for wild Asiatic lion weight is 308 kilograms. The largest measurement record for a wild African lioness is 272 kilograms, from Kenya. The Guinness World Record for the maximum weight of a male lion caged can be up to 366 kilograms, although there was a captive lion in 1970 that stood up to 1.12 meters tall at the shoulder, 3.2 meters in total length (including the tail), and weighed 375 kilograms. There are also some records, there are a few captive lions weight had reached 254 kilograms, 223 kilograms, 208 kilograms, although there is relevant information, but has not yet been authoritatively recognized.
Cape lion and Barbary lion is the extinction of the two subspecies, the former extinct in the 19th century, did not leave any reliable records, the surviving specimens of the Cape lion shoulder height of 1.2 meters, the total length (including the tail) reached 3.34 meters. The Barbary lion became extinct in the early 1900s, but there are still some caged Barbary lions in zoos, the largest of which reaches a shoulder height of 1.33 meters, a total length (including the tail) of 3.34 meters, and a weight of 435.88 kilograms, making it the largest lion ever recorded with certainty. There are also rumors that two lions weighed 550 kg and 488 kg. They had more developed manes that extended down to their backs and bellies, and they were also the largest, although both subspecies became extinct one after the other after humans took special care of them with shotguns. These two subspecies were once speculated to be the largest lion subspecies in the world, but the average weight is difficult to guess because the extinction was so early no credible information was left. The last stand of the Barbary lion was the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. In 1922, the last Barbary lion was brought down by a human shotgun, and is thought by concerned scientists to be similar in size to the East African lion.
The Asiatic lion, located in India, is smaller than its African brethren. Asiatic lion male body is slightly smaller, body length 1.1 ~ 1.7 meters, weight is generally in the 100 ~ 160KG or so, male full-length 1.9 ~ 2.8 meters more, weight is generally in the 150 ~ 190KG or so, the skin is more wrinkled. Relative to the African lion, Asiatic male lion's mane is less not very dense, in its abdomen and forelimbs elbow also has a small amount of long hair, and its tail end of the bulbous hair is also larger, the Asiatic lion is one of the most ferocious cats in Asia, but also one of the top predators in Asia. Once widely distributed in Asia, the Asiatic lion has almost gone extinct due to human hunting and environmental damage.
The lion's hair is short, and its body color is light gray, yellow, or teal, with the difference that male lions also have very long manes, which are light brown, dark brown, black, and so on, and the long manes extend all the way down to the shoulders and chest. The longer and darker the mane, the more attractive it is to the lioness. The lion's head is huge, with a rather wide face, long nasal bones, and a black nose. The lion's ears are shorter and rounded. The front limbs of the lion are stronger than the hind limbs and they have wide claws. The lion's tail is relatively long and has a tuft of long dark hair at the end. Lions are generally carnivorous. African lions are declining in numbers, but they are not currently listed as endangered or threatened (Asiatic lions are endangered).
How big is the world's largest lion - the Barbary lion
The Barbary lion, also known as the North African lion and the Atlas lion, is the second largest subspecies and named subspecies of the lion, and the only lion living in northern Africa, one of the largest lions on Earth. The Barbary lion has a large skull, an extremely large body, a well-developed mane, and is smaller than the Cape lion. The Barbary lion was once found in five countries - Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya - and became extinct in the wild in 1922 due to overhunting and habitat destruction.
The Barbary lion is the only lion living in northern Africa, also known as the North African lion or Atlas lion, they are the named subspecies of the lion and the earliest known to Europeans, but also one of the trio of North African carnivores; compared to other African lions, they are the closest relative to the Asiatic lion, and it is even believed that the extinct European lions of the first century AD is this subspecies. In the era of the Roman Empire, they were captured in large quantities to the ancient Roman Colosseum as a fighting animal, used to satisfy the Romans' desire to kill and fight. After the fall of the Roman Empire, their numbers dwindled considerably. Since then, with the destruction of the natural environment of North Africa, their habitat is shrinking; at the same time, the human "threat" is also more and more, and therefore always subject to human suppression and killing, the survival of the space and territory in the day by day, with the last wild Barbary lions in 1922 in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco With the last wild Barbary lion shot in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco in 1922, the Barbary lion, which had survived in northern Africa for thousands of years, finally disappeared in North Africa. 1925 was considered extinct. However, after 1975, many Barbary lions were found in circuses and zoos with impure blood.
The king of the savannah, the Barbary lion, was mainly found in the northern part of the Sahara Desert in Africa before it became extinct, and is the only named subspecies of lion that is native to North Africa. Nowadays, the bloody scenes of humans fighting with lions can only be seen in fictional movie images. Because, on the one hand, in European human culture, lions were seen as a symbol of courage and nobility, and on the other hand, they were expelled from their own circle of life to show the immense power of human beings.
The Barbary lion's eyes are transparent, unlike the sub-Saharan lion, which is brownish amber. It has a grayish coat and a long, shaggy pelt. The male lion's mane spreads over the head and neck, to the back bladder and belly. The color of the mane varies according to where it grows, starting at the head and neck and getting darker as it goes back. Lionesses and cubs also have long hair on their necks, the backs of their front legs, and on their bellies. They are the epitome of lions, with their huge size, thick manes, and perfectly suited to the male human aesthetic. Therefore, whether from the size or from the appearance of the Barbary male lions than the existing lions are more powerful and majestic more kingly style. 1758, Lin durably binomial name for the lion named, using them as a model specimen; they used to be spread throughout Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, human beings are their only enemy; they are the Roman beasts of prey, herdsmen's enemies, the Sultan's pet, the ultimate goal of the hunting Africa! the ultimate target of the hunt in Africa. This subspecies of lion is the named subspecies which is the first recognized and named subspecies in the western world. Interestingly, although the North African lion is the largest subspecies, it is shorter than the other subspecies and therefore has a longer body, with a shoulder height of only about 115cm. In other words, its physical characteristics are closer to those of the tiger than any other subspecies. Its habits are also similar to the tiger tends to live alone, not as other subspecies of lions like group activities, it is estimated that it is also the only solitary life of the lion.
The European lion became extinct in the second century A.D., and the South African Caboose disappeared from the face of the earth in 1865. The pure-blooded Barbary lion also became extinct later in the twentieth century. These tragedies go back a long way to the days of ancient Rome.
In 46 BC, during the height of Julius · Caesar's reign, he personally financed the construction of a square that reflected the might of the Roman Empire. Completion was held to match the scale of a magnificent sacrificial event. Because of the bloodthirsty traditions of the Roman arena at the time, Caesar had large numbers of wild lions herded into the arena, teasing them to fight the trained gladiators. Driven from the darkness of the dungeon into the blinding sunlight, the lions went on a killing spree. Hundreds of gladiators armed with spears, swords and animal nets fought and killed, and there was an uproar of cheers and applause from the audience. History has no record of the number of gladiator casualties at the time, and by the time the show was over, more than 400 lions had fallen to their deaths.
The lions that died at the hands of Caesar and his rulers before and after him were almost without exception captured from their homes in North Africa, in present-day Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Known as Barbary lions or Atlas lions, these beasts were once hunted by the ancient Egyptians, devoured early ___, and inspired Europeans when they designed their emblems. Their monumental statues guard Trafalgar Square in London, and they are famous for their magnificent iguana manes that drape from their shoulder blades to the middle of their backs, with tufts of mane at the elbows and a thick fringe of hairs that extends from their bellies to their inner thighs. They are more stocky than their Saharan subspecies counterparts, and their broad faces are framed by clear gray eyes, the color of sun-bleached sand, slightly lighter than the amber of the southern lion's eyes.
By the early 20th century, all but one of the Barbary lion populations remained in the frigid Atlas mountains of Morocco. Even in that sparsely populated area, they only got a moment's respite. By the 1920s, this small refuge had not escaped the guns, and the last recorded wild Barbary lion was shot in 1922 by a farmer. Aside from a few pelts and bones scattered in European museums, the Barbary lion seemed to have disappeared forever.
Yet just outside Morocco's capital, Rabat, is a makeshift animal adoption facility that may hold the key to unlocking the mystery of the Barbary lion's resurrection. There are 23 lions in the Rabat Zoo whose lineage can be traced directly back to their ancestors —— Barbary lions, who lived in the Atlas Mountains in the 19th century.
Throughout the 19th century, the Berbers, who lived in the Atlas Mountains, captured live Barbary lions and offered them to the Sultan of Morocco in lieu of taxes. In the royal palaces of Marrakech and Fez, these royal lions were sheltered and flourished, while the other wild Barbary lions have long been extinct. ) continues to watch over this secluded breeding ground. To ensure that they do not go extinct in a disaster, Haddane has sent 60 Barbary lions to zoos around the world. If the genes of the Barbary lions still exist, it is from these Royal Moroccan lions and their offspring that people will find them.
To find these genes, a team of researchers from the University of Oxford had to first sift through the dusty skeletal pelts of known North African lions in museums. Oxford‘s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit and the Molecular Evolution Research Group have already collected samples of living and extinct lions in their respective fields. Samples. In addition to tissue and blood from modern lion populations in Africa and Asia, they have collected skeletal specimens from lions that once lived in Iran, the Cape of Good Hope region of South Africa, and North Africa. With the help of modern technology, the geneticists extracted DNA from these long-dead bones, providing an easy-to-understand "atlas" of the Barbary lion, and indeed all lions.
Comparing the DNA of known populations, and dividing the lions into distinct subspecies on the basis of the resulting hard data —— has been a matter of debate in the scientific community for many years. In addition to the endangered Asian subspecies that has been separated from the African lion for about 100,000 years, almost nothing is known about the evolutionary relationship between the different populations. Even with 100-year-old bones, the results of DNA identification are quite clear. Yet geneticists are faced with the laborious and costly process of finding markers (the sequence of genes that characterize a population). If these markers exist and scientists can find them, blood samples taken from the lions at the Rabat Zoo will easily confirm that they are Barbary lions.
Although the study is just getting started, the initial results are encouraging. If the royal lions' bloodline is as pure as the historical record suggests, their descendants will be destined to return once again to the high peaks of the Atlas Mountains. The most exciting aspect of this study is the plan developed by Brahim · Hudner, a team of researchers from the University of Oxford, and a British conservation organization called Wildlink to release the Barbary lions back to their original habitat. The Moroccan government has also set aside 150 square miles (400 square kilometers) of uninhabited area in the north central Atlas Mountains (the Middle and High Atlas), where the first release will take place. Once this research leaves the lab, the real challenges begin. Geneticists face a more daunting release problem than the complex molecular makeup. They may have to build fences, store all kinds of prey, and teach the lions, which have been bred for generations, how to survive, including learning to understand that humans are neither their guardians nor their prey, nor the ones who hunt them. The local population is the decisive factor in making the release program a reality, and the program can only go ahead if they want the lions back. If the lions lead to tourism and related employment, the program will succeed. The Berbers are clearly in favor of this option, as they will set up tourism companies, build and run lodges and —— as the lions are directly related to their livelihoods —— protect them from harm. These hunters who have saved the Barbary lions from extinction by using them for taxation will likely save them once again.