Lion mane linked to climate

February 23, 2011

If you were a male lion and could read the latest scientific research, you would want to move to a warmer climate, where your mane would be more impressive. That is, until it started getting smaller, to fit you to your new warmer climate!

It's long been known that lions with long, full manes get the girls. Now, an innovative study based on zoo animals all across America shows for the first time that cold temperatures help the king of the beast grow his mane long and thick, and more appealing to potential mates.

In fact, up to one-half of the length and density of a zoo lion's mane can be attributed to temperature, rather than nutrition, social factors, individual history, or genes, according to a study that will be the cover story of the April 2006 issue of the Journal of Mammalogy.

Dense manes retard heat loss as would a scarf or fur hat. Zoo lions in hot climates adapt with smaller, thinner manes. Those in northern zoos never overheat so no reduction in their mane is necessary. Those in southern zoos occasionally overheat, so a differential hair growth rate keeps their manes relatively thinner. These differences in mane conditions are not the result of natural selection. Rather, they are a sign of a flexible trait that can vary to match local conditions.

Like a buck's antlers or a peacock's tail feathers, the lion's mane primarily serves to attract females and intimidate male competitors. But it comes with a cost: a full mane takes energy to grow and maintain; gives away location to prey; makes maneuvering through bramble difficult; harbors parasites, and, as we have said, retains heat.

| This lion lives in the Alexandria Zoological Park in Alexandria, La. The new research helps explain the correlation between climate and manes and may lead to revisions in the lion's… Click here for more information. |

Shaking up the lion family tree

Based on the results of this study, scientists now know that lion manes can vary tremendously due to local climate. Therefore, taxonomists may be obliged to reanalyze the lion family tree.

Over the years, scientists have ascribed lions to various species and subspecies based largely on their outward appearance, especially the length and density of their manes. In fact, 23 different names have been proposed for African Panthera leo. But the new research suggests this number may be exaggerated, an idea that is supported by recent genetic studies.

"It is reasonable to hypothesize that most regional variation in manes reflects climate and other environmental influences, such as rainfall, rather than demarcating evolutionarily significant units within Panthera leo," the authors conclude.

Another result from this study will be the need for scientists to re-examine their understanding of the cave lions of Europe's Ice Age. Pleistocene lions apparently had no manes, which resulted in them being classified as separate subspecies of Panthera leo: either P. leo spelaea or P. leo atrox. But given the new knowledge that cold climate tends to increase mane length and density, the complete lack of manes in the cold Ice Age habitats "could be marshaled to justify their allocation to separate species," the authors conclude.

Lions once roamed over most of the world but are now limited to small parts of Africa and India. Only about 25,000 lions live in the wild today, down from more than 100,000 only 25 years ago. Their numbers have been decimated by human encroachment on their habitats and by conflicts with people.

"The large-maned lion has always been an important symbol to our culture," said Roland Kays, curator of mammals at the New York State Museum in Albany, N.Y., and a coauthor of this study. "We hope they can survive outside of cold-weather zoos."

The other coauthors of the study are S.M. Kasiki, of the Kenya Wildlife Service, in Nairobi, Kenya; and V.M. Sebestyen of the Penn State University Library.

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Lions at the following zoos were included in the results of this research: Alexandria Zoological Park, Alexandria, La.; Niabi Zoo, Coal Valley, Ill.; Dallas Zoo, Dallas, Texas; Blank Park Zoo, Des Moines, Iowa; Houston Zoo, Houston, Texas; Ellen Trout Zoo, Lufkin, Texas; Memphis Zoo, Memphis, Tenn.; Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo, Monroe, La.; Freeport-McMoran Audubon Species Survival Center, New Orleans, La.; Oakland Zoo, Oakland, Calif.; Glen Oaks Zoo, Peoria, Ill.; Sacramento Zoo, Sacramento, Calif.; Rolling Hills Zoo, Salina, Kan.; Saint Louis Zoological Park, St. Louis, Mo.; Topeka Zoological Park, Topeka, Kan.; Caldwell Zoo, Tyler, Texas; Marine World, Vallejo, Calif.

In addition, the following zoos were involved in the study even though lions their lions were not included in the final comparative analysis: Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens, Chicago, Ill.; Fort Worth Zoological Park, Ft. Worth, Texas; Kansas City Zoo, Kansas City, Mo.; San Francisco Zoological Gardens, San Francisco, Calif.; Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita, Kan.

Great digital images of lions available by email:

1.) Kansas lion with full mane does not look cowardly!

Long, thick manes such as this one intimidate rivals and attract potential mates. But they come with a cost, including heat retention. New research shows that lions adapt to hotter climates by growing manes that are less long and thick. This lion lives at the relatively northern Topeka Zoological Park in Topeka, Kansas. Therefore it has a bigger, denser mane than other lions in the study that live in relatively hotter southern climates.