Barbary Lioness
by Cay-Uwe Kulzer
When we started with this gallery I posted a picture of a barbary lion and a cub. Just a few weeks after I made that photo I got the chance for this portrait. I also made this picture at the "Frankfurt Zoo" which in the 1990s was very committed to the study of this lion species which actually is extinct, but many zoos around the world are trying to save as much of the genes as possible from a few remaining lions from a Moroccan Royal Zoo.
Contax RTS-II, Sigma APO 5.6/400, F5.6, 1/125s, Kodachrome 64, tripod
Scanned with NIKON Coolscan 5000ED, Photoshop curves, sharpening, cropped to square
Comments
2 commentsGreat image!
I am always suspicious of the division of many mammals into various subspecies with no real research being done.
The IUCN recognize only 2 subspecies of Lion basically African and Asian although the African is also awarded a split into Western Africa, and the others.
Historical records rely on distribution and physical description, in this instance size and mane.
Kalahari Lions are very large and often have manes between their legs and under their belly so are they dascended from Barbary Lions?
I am not a biologist and have to rely on the information provided and in this case I am very confident that the facts are correct since the Frankfurt Zoo is a very well recognized institution.
On the other hand you are right, sometimes the differences are not very obvious and a Kalahari Lion looks very similar