The Tsavo Lions

Are Tsavo lions distinct from other African lions?

Patterson taking DNA sample from problem animal pelts at Headquarters of Tsavo East National Park, Voi.

This question led Bruce Patterson to initiate surveys of museum collections around the world and to collaborate with Jean Dubach, who was already engaged in genetic studies of African lions in Brookfield Zoo’s genetics lab. By studying morphological and genetic variation of Tsavo lions in the context of continental variation, researchers can gauge the evolutionary significance of the patterns observed in Tsavo lions.

(click to enlarge)

The historic man-eaters (shown at right as red squares) constitute part of the reference sample. Our remaining samples from Tsavo represent animals killed outside the park boundaries during problem animal control by the Partnerships Office of the Kenya Wildlife Service. These animals furnish us with both morphological and genetic samples.

Museum-based studies of geographic variation in skulls indicate that historic and modern Tsavo lions cannot be distinguished from lions elsewhere in East Africa using modern, quantitat-ive methods. Zoo-based genetic analyses of 2,300 base-pairs of mitochondrial DNA by Dr. Dubach show that Tsavo lions group with other lion populations along the eastern coast of Africa when incorporated into a larger ongoing survey of geographic variation. Both morphological and genetic evidence suggest that among African lions, there is great variation within populations and relatively weak differentiation between populations in these character sets. For this reason, recognizing distinct species or subspecies of lions in East Africa is wholly unwarranted.

Publications:

Patterson, B. D., J.M. Dubach, T.P. Gnoske, S. Weru, E. Mwangi, and R.W. Kays. 1999. Morphologic, genetic, and ecological variation of African lions: the mane story. 79th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists, Seattle WA.

Patterson, B.D. 2001. Prides: the lions of Moremi, by C. Harvey and P. Kat [book review]. Journal of Mammalogy 82(1):248-250.

Dubach, J, B. D. Patterson, M. B. Briggs, K. Venzke, J. Flammand, P. Stander, L. Scheepers, and R. Kays. In review. Molecular genetic variation across the southern geographic range of the African lion, Panthera leo. Animal Conservation.

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