CAPE LION: CHARACTERISTICS, HABITAT, DIET, MORPHOLOGY - BIOLOGY - 2025

The Cape lion (Panthera leo melanochaitus) is a large extinct lion that lived in South Africa and was characterized by independent behavior and a large mane with dark edges.

This lion is considered to have become extinct as a result of indiscriminate hunting. In the southwestern part of South Africa, Dutch and British colonizers arrived, who dedicated themselves to hunting these cats until they were extinct.

Image source: wikipedia.org

However, in 2000 two cubs with the characteristics of the Cape lion were identified in Siberia, so there are indications that this species is not entirely extinct.

Habitat and distribution

The Cape lion inhabited southwestern South Africa. This area is characterized by having extensive and flat lands. In this space is what is now known as the Province of El Cabo.

Morphology

The lions of the Cape had very particular physical features. The most outstanding feature is his mane. Unlike other lions, it was brown around the head, and black at the tips.

This mane extended to the belly area and had the particularity of being smoother than those of other feline specimens.

Like all lions, these were born without the mane, which grew progressively as the lion grew. However, this mane grew much faster on Cape lions; then, cubs could be found with their manes in the process of formation and growth.

Lions were born with spots, just like those of other species. These spots disappear over time. But the Cape lions had a peculiarity: behind each ear they wore a black spot, which did not disappear from the fur.

They could weigh up to 250 kilos, they are considered the largest lions that have ever existed. Another striking feature of these lions was the size of their legs, which were proportionally smaller.

Behavior

The lions of the Cape were characterized by being independent. Unlike other cats, these did not interact much with each other. They were not seen in herds.

This may respond to the fact that there were few prey in the area of ​​South Africa that inhabited, given the dry and cold characteristics of the place. So, it was not necessary to form herds.

Cape lions are considered opportunistic predators; that is, they were capable of varying their hunting methods and procedures according to environmental conditions.

They could adapt to the modifications of the space in which they lived, carried out by the intervention of man.

Diet

Cape lions were large felines, so they needed large prey to feed properly. Zebras, giraffes and antelopes were part of the regular diet of these lions.

Once different European colonies settled in the area, the hunting dynamics varied for the Cape lions, who saw the species that they normally hunt diminished.

Livestock was one of the activities carried out by the European settlers in that area. The Cape lions, having lost much of their usual prey as a result of European settlement, hunted the cattle of the colonies.

There were some cases of Cape lions attacking humans. Some researchers attribute these attacks to older lions, who had less ability to hunt and whose teeth were weaker, reasons why they preferred prey easier to hunt and with softer meat.

Causes of extinction

Cape Town was founded in 1652 by the Dutch Jan Van Riebeeck. In principle, Van Riebeeck did not have the mission of colonizing the area, but had only considered the construction of what they called "The Fort of Hope."

This fort would serve as a station to offer supplies to the ships of the Netherlands East India Company, a company with which Van Riebeeck had a current contract.

Different situations led, eventually, the Dutch to reclaim land use in the Cape and deepen their settlement in the area. This was the beginning of the different European occupations that were generated in the area.

The Dutch discovered the Cape lion and brought some specimens to the Netherlands.

In 1975 it was the British who took the Cape. In this scenario, the lions were being displaced by the activities that the man was carrying out in the area.

As explained above, the lions saw their dynamics changed as there was less availability of prey that were part of their usual diet. So, since they were opportunistic hunters, they started hunting the colonizers' cattle.

As a consequence of this, the British carried out extensive hunting days, in many cases in retaliation for the damage to livestock.

The Cape lion is considered to be one of those that has been extinct exclusively due to indiscriminate and excessive hunting by man.

Extinction date

The exact date of extinction is not known with exactitude, but it is around between 1858 and 1865, when a British general with the surname Bisset killed the last lion of the Cape, in Natal, in the middle of a day of sport hunting.

Possibility of return

The South African John Spence, director and administrator of the South African zoo Tygerberg, identified in January 2000 two cubs (a male and a female) that, given their physical characteristics, could be descendants of the Cape lion.

The search for Spence lasted more than 30 years. The lions that match the peculiarities of the Cape lion were in the Novosibirsk zoo in Siberia. These lions are believed to have arrived in Siberia after being abandoned there by a circus.

These two cubs were transferred to South Africa, where they were to be genetically studied to determine if they are indeed part of the Cape lion species.

Spence died in 2010, and in 2012 the Tygerberg Zoo closed. Until then, the lions were still in the zoo.

References

1. Strauss, B. “Cape Lion” (January 24, 2017) at ThoughtCo. Retrieved on September 13, 2017 from ThoughtCo: thoughtco.com
2. Irwin, R. "Has Rare Lion of Africa's Cape Eluded Extinction?" (July 26, 2001) in National Geographic News. Retrieved on September 13, 2017 from National Geographic News: news.nationalgeographic.com
3. "'Extinct' lions surface in Siberia" (5 November 2000) on BBC News. Retrieved on September 13, 2017 from BBC News: news.bbc.co.uk
4. Pease, A. "The book of the lion" in Google Books. Retrieved on September 13, 2017 from Google Books: books.google.co.ve
5. Davis, R. “We lost a zoo: Western Cape's only zoo closes” (June 4, 2012) in Daily Maverick. Retrieved on September 13, 2017 from Daily Maverick: dailymaverick.co.za
6. AP Archive. "South Africa: lion cubs thought to be cape lions" (July 21, 2015) on YouTube. Retrieved on September 13, 2017 from YouTube: youtube.com.