Katanga Lion

[paul78]

I know the lion subspecies has been changed quite a bit over the yrs. I can’t keep up with all that. I love the West African Lion in game probably my favorite animal and what’s a zoo with out a lion after all. I really do love these lions in captivity tho they have the parted hair style mane and look stunning. I would love a asiatic lion but would love one of these also. I know another African lion species is not a good choice but amazing looking lions tho.

 

[Murray]

I agree there needs to be more lions in the game once they fix the overall look

 

[NZFanatic]

I agree there needs to be more lions in the game once they fix the overall look

The only other lion they should add is the Asiatic lion if they add another one at all, IMO.

Broadly speaking, zoos tend to categorise lions as 'African' and 'Asiatic' without differentiating the various subspecies beyond that. I'm honestly not sure why Frontier went specifically with the West African subspecies (while giving it the wrong binomial at that) instead of just calling it the 'Lion' like they did with the timber wolf. Most zoos claim they have the Southern African (or Transvaal) subspecies in their collections but usually even those are hybridised.

 

[tigris115]

There are only 2 subspecies: One in Eastern/Southern Africa and the in-game on in Western Africa and Gujarat. The reason that early taxonomists went so nuts with subspecies is that male lions have insane variations in their manes

 

[Murray]

While it is true their are only two official subspecies as of 2017 that doesn’t mean there are only two unique body shapes and coat variation. While Lions don’t always look the same the ones that look drastically different are different subspecies with different environment size etc.

 

[tigris115]

Reports of wild white lions only appear in one South African population in an area called Timbavati. Like I said, lions have insane variation between individuals based on innumerable factors.

 

[NZFanatic]

There are only 2 subspecies: One in Eastern/Southern Africa and the in-game on in Western Africa and Gujarat. The reason that early taxonomists went so nuts with subspecies is that male lions have insane variations in their manes

Subspecies is often used as shorthand for subpopulation, which is what I'm referring to. In any case it's not a relevant point, because the game specifies the West African subpopulation.

 

[Murray]

I think it is relevant because this post is talking about potential various subspecies we would like to see in the game

 

[NZFanatic]

I think it is relevant because this post is talking about potential various subspecies we would like to see in the game

What I mean is, the game specifies the West African lion, which is not a subspecies but a subpopulation, ergo in the context of the game the two terms are interchangeable. Pointing out that lion taxonomical classification is in flux (which it is, more or less - even the two subspecies posited above are not in consensus) isn't really important to the discussion. When I mentioned that I want the Asiatic subspecies, what I meant is that if they were to add another lion into the game, I would rather it was the Gir Forest subpopulation rather than one of the southern African subpopulations.

 

[Murray]

Okay, that makes more sense. I would definitely want to see that too but in another I suggested scenarios for franchise mode and I think a cool one would be to take the Barbary lion which is extinct in the wild and have to breed it back to good genetics and eventually release back to the wild. Just my opinion