Barbary Lions


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More Barbary Info
Mane Comparisons

REPRODUCTION

Males and females only came together during the breeding season, which was thought to be January. Plains lions have no set breeding season, and can be found mating throughout the year. (The following information is based on records in captivity.)

Gestation is approximately 110 days, after which 1-6 cubs are born, with 3-4 being most common. The cubs are generally heavily spotted with very dark rosettes and weigh approximately 3.5 pounds at birth. They gain an average of 3.5 ounces per day, and their eyes open around the 6th day. They begin to walk at 13 days.

Females start coming into estrous around 2 years old, but do not generally conceive until 3-4 years. Males show an interest in females between 24-30 months, but do not tend to produce cubs before the age of 3, and more commonly until 4.

ORIGINS

Is the Barbary more closely related to the African or Asian lion in its evolutionary origins? While the answer to that question is not known for sure, the results of a study done in 1968 (one of the only studies done to this day involving Barbarys!) did provide us with a theory. The study showed that when studying skulls of the Barbary, Cape, Asian, and African lions, the same skull characteristics - the very narrow postorbital bar - existed in only the Barbary and the Asian, showing that there may have been a closer relation between the lion populations of Northernmost Africa and those of Asia. It is also believed that the South European lion that became extinct at the beginning of the Christian era, could have represented the connecting link between the North African and Asiatic lions. It is believed that Barbary lions possess the same belly fold (hidden under all that mane) that appears in the Asian lions today.

Art by Rembrandt

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

As food was not abundant, these lions were solitary like the other cat species, or occasionally lived in pairs. Females raised their young until maturity - approximately 2 years - and then separated from them. In Africa and Asia, only the male offspring are thrown out of the family unit, and females remain a part of the pride for their lifetime.

DIET

The main sources of natural prey for the predators of the Atlas Mountains were Barbary Stag and gazelle. Another particular favorite, and somewhat easier target, were the Arab herds of cows and sheep, and even included a horse or 2 every now and then! The method of hunting was never documented, but it is believed that they used the same death by strangulation method as do/did the other great cats of the world.