CAPE LION

The Cape lion was a Panthera leo melanochaita population in South Africa’s Natal and Cape Provinces that has been extirpated in the mid-19th century. The type specimen originated at the Cape of Good Hope and was described in 1842.

Until 2017, the Cape lion was considered a distinct lion subspecies. Phylogeographic analysis showed that lion populations in Southern and East Africa are closely related. In 2017, lion populations in Southern and East Africa were subsumed to Panthera leo melanochaita.

Felis (Leo) melanochaita was a black-maned lion specimen from the Cape of Good Hope that was described by Ch. H. Smith in 1842. In the 19th century, naturalists and hunters recognised it as a distinct subspecies because of this dark mane colour. In the 20th century, some authors supported this view of the Cape lion being a distinct subspecies. Vratislav Mazák hypothesized that it evolved geographically isolated from other populations by the Great Escarpment.

This theory was questioned in the early 21st century. Genetic exchanges between lion populations in the Cape, Kalahari and Transvaal regions, and farther east are considered having been possible through a corridor between the escarpment and the Indian ocean. Results of phylogeographic studies support this notion of lions in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa being genetically close. Based on the analysis of 357 lion samples from 10 countries, it is thought that lions migrated from Southern to East Africa during the Pleistocene and Holocene. Analysis of 194 lion samples from 22 different countries suggest that populations in Southern and East Africa are distinct from populations in West and North Africa and Asia. In 2017, lion populations in Southern and East Africa were subsumed under P. l. melanochaita.

The type specimen of the Cape lion was described as very large with black-edged ears and a black mane extending beyond the shoulders and under the belly. Skulls of two lion specimen in the British Natural History Museum from the Orange River basin were described as a little shorter in the occipital regions than other lions in South Africa and with a tendency to develop the second lower premolar.

American zoologist Edmund Heller described the Cape lion’s skull as longer than those of equatorial lions, by at least 1.0 in (25 mm) on average, despite being comparatively narrow. He considered the Cape lion to have been ‘distinctly’ bigger than other lions in Africa. Lions approaching 272 kg (600 lb) were shot south of the Vaal River. 19th century authors claimed that the Cape lion was bigger than the Asiatic lion.

Results of a long-term study indicate that the colour of lion manes is influenced by climatic variables and varies between individuals. Manes are darker and longer in cool seasons.

In the early 19th century, lions still occurred in the Karoo plains and in the Northern Cape. In 1844, lions were sighted south of the Riet River. The last lions south of the Orange River were sighted between 1850 and 1858. In the northern Orange Free State, lions may have survived into the 1860s.

In 2003, six lions from Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park were relocated to Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape Province.