For Immediate Release Media contact: The Field Museum Greg Borzo 312/665-7106 gborzo@fieldmuseum.org The study’s authors avoided using captive specimens for their study due to the abundance of variables these animals are subject to, including inbreeding, hybridization and unknown pedigrees, stress, chronic inactivity, and climate-controlled environments. Instead, the authors focused their efforts on the mane condition of two adjacent populations of wild lions that were separated by only elevation, and thus, climate. Equatorial east Africa was chosen for the study because the greatest range of mane variation occurs there. In fact, both maximum and minimum mane conditions have been documented there historically, and continue to exist today, making it an ideal region for addressing the questions posed by the authors (see Velizar Simeonovski’s plate). This provocative topic was first discussed in a peer reviewed scientific venue in 1833 in this very journal (under its former name): Smee, Capt. W. “On the maneless lion of Gujerat,” Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London; part 1, page 140, 1833. The Journal of Zoology is published by the Zoological Society or London. This study has just been published on the journal’s “OnlineEarly” website at www.blackwell-synergy.com. Digital images available: Color Lion Plate The equatorial region of East Africa (Kenya) has long maintained a native lion population exhibiting the greatest range of mane variation known on the planet. While plenty of poorly, modestly and fully maned lions still occur in the eastern, southern and northern regions of that country, lions with truly exceptional manes from the mountain plateaus have fallen victim in recent years to persistent eradication efforts by animal control units.  Safeguarding livestock interests near the boundaries of these limited highland protected areas has become a priority in those districts, despite the lions recent elevation to the status of a “threatened” species in that country. Color plate by Velizar Simeonovski Reproductively prime aged Tsavo lion This six-to-eight-year-old, robust Tsavo lion in his reproductive prime has a scant mane yet he was the dominant of two males in his 10-lion pride, which included at least four adult females. This photo was taken near the Kenderi swamp at 600 meters above sea level. Photograph by Harald A. Schuetz, 2001 Old battle-scarred Tsavo lion This old Tsavo lion (12 to 14 years old) has a darker, thicker and more extensive mane than the young lion referred to in the above caption. It demonstrates that Tsavo lions can develop fuller manes than previously recognized and that mane development is a continuous process as lions advance in age. This photo was taken along the Voi River at 400 meters above sea level. Photograph by Harald A. Schuetz, 2001 Profusely maned high-plains lion An extensively and richly colored dark-maned male from the Equatorial Middle Elevation Plains at 1,700 meters above sea level. Older lions, like this male, who is past his reproductive prime, typically carry the densest, most extensive and often darkest manes, regardless of where they occur. The authors relied on patterns of tooth wear (as clearly seen here) to age live lions (in addition to other standard aging protocols) for their study, incorporating their extensive experience in aging lion specimens housed in museum collections. Photograph by Harald A. Schuetz, 2001 <<Back to the Press Room