Africans Riding Lions in Ethiopia a phenomenal. These Rare photographs features the Royal Black Lion Monarchy in the 1930s. It is mind blowing to learn that Africans groomed and nurtured wild animals such as the lion. It also poses the possibilities that early Africans may have coexisted with wild animals with ease.
Ethiopia is often referred to as “Land of Lions”. Some will argue that it is an understatement to best describe the land of Ethiopia. This captures the wisdom and resilience of Africans.
Most African lions live in the classic savannah habitat of sub-Saharan Africa, but there are a few scattered in other countries, including the mountains of Ethiopia, Sudan and others.
Ethiopian lions, known for their unusual black manes, were feared extinct until a population of around 50 were rediscovered in 2016.
Looking at these photographs, first thing that comes to mind is Africans riding lions appear to have been a common norm in the old days in Africa but in this era it is far from it.
However, in an article from Scientific American, written by John R. Platt on December 4, 2012, it concludes that these animals are not only genetically different but also phenotypically unique from other lions, indicating a distinction in behavior. To find such in this era, they can only probably occur in open forest habitat, rather than in savanna landscapes.
“Every day 20 unusual lions greet visitors at a tiny animal park in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. These lions, which have spent generations in captivity, are not like most African lions (Panthera leo leo).
For one thing, they are slightly smaller than the wild lions found elsewhere on the continent. For another, the males carry distinctive black manes that extend from their shoulders to their stomachs and are much darker than those sported by other lions. And finally, new research reveals that these rare lions also have unique DNA, although not enough to declare them a separate species or subspecies”.
“I think they are genetically distinct enough to justify conservation efforts,” says Michael Hofreiter, professor of evolutionary biology and ecology at the University of York in England and one of the authors of a study about the Ethiopian lions’ DNA that was published in the October European Journal of Wildlife Research.
The research team came to its conclusions after running DNA tests on 15 of the zoo’s 20 lions, which revealed that the lions possess both microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA that is distinct from other African lions. (Because the five remaining lions were all juvenile progeny of the others, they were not tested.)
Hofreiter says these animals are not only genetically different but also phenotypically unique, indicating that their behavior is different from other lions. If any lions like them still exist in the wild, “they probably occur in open forest habitat, rather than in savanna landscapes,” he says.
The lions at the zoo all descend from a collection owned by Haile Selassie, the emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974 and the messiah of the Rastafarian movement.
Selassie founded the zoo in 1948 with five males and two females—animals reportedly captured in southwestern Ethiopia, although no evidence backs up their exact source. Luckily, despite the low founder population, Hofreiter says neither the DNA nor the appearance of the animals shows any signs of inbreeding”.
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