Doubts about Zoopedia's info for West African Lion

[Aramar]

I'm trying to learn more about the animals that we have in the game and I've started to read carefully all the information provided by the Zoopedia (before I had only read it between the lines). When it comes to the West African Lion, I have some doubts. I know that the classification of the lion subspecies has changed and there are different opinions, so it is not very clear.

If I understand it right, the West African Lion is a population of the subspecies panthera leo leo. That's why the zoopedia says there are only 250 lions and that they are only found in 3 countries: Senegal, Mali and Niger. The zoopedia info is about that specific population, not the subspecies. However, the map provided in the zoopedia shows the location of all populations of both lion subspecies.

Did I get it right? This is very confusing to me. The map should match the info in the text.

 

[Firestar97]

I think it would be best if they would change it to the Barbary Lion. The Lion in the Game looks way more like that Subspecies and it seems like they wanted to include that one at first anyways. Are West African Lions even kept in any Real Life Zoo?

 

[Bearcat9948]

I think it would be best if they would change it to the Barbary Lion. The Lion in the Game looks way more like that Subspecies and it seems like they wanted to include that one at first anyways. Are West African Lions even kept in any Real Life Zoo?

Barbary lions are extinct, so that wouldn't really make sense to me

 

[Firestar97]

Barbary lions are extinct, so that wouldn't really make sense to me

Aren't they only extinct in the Wild but a small Population (even though most likely not pure bred) does still exist in Captivity?
Also they are called Barbary Lions in the Tutorial. Frontier needs to make everything fit better together. I think West African Lions don't even look like the Lion in the Game normally

 

[Bearcat9948]

Aren't they only extinct in the Wild but a small Population (even though most likely not pure bred) does still exist in Captivity?
Also they are called Barbary Lions in the Tutorial. Frontier needs to make everything fit better together. I think West African Lions don't even look like the Lion in the Game normally

No, Barbary lions are extinct

 

[DrBurrito]

I'm trying to learn more about the animals that we have in the game and I've started to read carefully all the information provided by the Zoopedia (before I had only read it between the lines). When it comes to the West African Lion, I have some doubts. I know that the classification of the lion subspecies has changed and there are different opinions, so it is not very clear.

If I understand it right, the West African Lion is a population of the subspecies panthera leo leo. That's why the zoopedia says there are only 250 lions and that they are only found in 3 countries: Senegal, Mali and Niger. The zoopedia info is about that specific population, not the subspecies. However, the map provided in the zoopedia shows the location of all populations of both lion subspecies.

Did I get it right? This is very confusing to me. The map should match the info in the text.

Glad you brought it up. It has been a long time since I checked that map. The in-game lion's distribution map has gone through 3 phases since the beta. I have archived versions of almost all versions of the Zoopedia, so let's take a trip back in time:

1) The Beta: During the beta, the lion's distribution map was for the current day distribution of all subspecies/populations combined. Even the Gir Forest population (Asiatic lion):

2) At Launch: For months after release, many forum users, including myself, had pointed out to the lion's distribution map's errors. The "new" distribution map was for Panthera leo melanochaita, not even Panthera leo leo. The only Panthera leo leo population depicted on it was the Gir Forest population. They had apparently forgotten about the Indian population while removing Panthera leo leo from the map. Two mistakes in one really: Removing the wrong subspecies and then leaving parts of the removed subspecies' distribution on the map when the game's lion doesn't even have the Asia tag. This version of the map persisted for almost a year.

3) Recently: Now, many months later, we are back at where we started, distribution map for the species as a whole.

Note: I would like to thank @Mjmannella for the missing versions I had (beta and post release)

 

[DrBurrito]

I did forget to mark the Gir Forest population for users who could potentially miss it:

And here is a distribution map for all subspecies and subpopulations for those who would like to know what the actual distribution of all populations are like:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Lion_subspecies_distribution3.png

There are several other animals in the game with map errors. I can help out on similar threads for other animals if need be, or create a thread for all map errors if other users would like me to.

 

[Aramar]

Thanks for the info. I didn't even realised that the map had changed (although I got the game last summer, so I wasn't here at the beginning).

It's true that the small mark for the Indian lion on the map is easy to miss. This is a different subject, but I wish the colour of the continents was white so that the marks were much easier to be seen.

 

[DrBurrito]

Thanks for the info. I didn't even realised that the map had changed (although I got the game last summer, so I wasn't here at the beginning).

It's true that the small mark for the Indian lion on the map is easy to miss. This is a different subject, but I wish the colour of the continents was white so that the marks were much easier to be seen.

The last record I have of the second version is from summer 2020, so they have changed it sometime between that and January 2021.

 

[NZFanatic]

I'm trying to learn more about the animals that we have in the game and I've started to read carefully all the information provided by the Zoopedia (before I had only read it between the lines). When it comes to the West African Lion, I have some doubts. I know that the classification of the lion subspecies has changed and there are different opinions, so it is not very clear.

If I understand it right, the West African Lion is a population of the subspecies panthera leo leo. That's why the zoopedia says there are only 250 lions and that they are only found in 3 countries: Senegal, Mali and Niger. The zoopedia info is about that specific population, not the subspecies. However, the map provided in the zoopedia shows the location of all populations of both lion subspecies.

Did I get it right? This is very confusing to me. The map should match the info in the text.

No, you're right.

The West African lion does indeed fall within Panthera leo leo, but as with many animals Frontier started with one thing and finished with something else. The "timber wolf" falls into the same trap - it's pretty clear it was originally intended to specifically be the Northwestern wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis) before they changed it into a generic wolf (there's still a hangover from this in one of the campaigns, even). So it is with the lion - I think they started with the 'Northern lion' (P. leo leo as a whole) but changed their minds later. They updated the information but not the range map.