User:Punetor i Rregullt5/sandbox/Comparison of cheetahs, jaguars and leopards
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Southern lion | |
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A male at Etosha National Park, Namibia | |
A lioness at Samburu National Reserve, Kenya | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Suborder: | Feliformia |
Family: | Felidae |
Subfamily: | Pantherinae |
Genus: | Panthera |
Species: | |
Subspecies: | P. l. melanochaita |
Trinomial name | |
Panthera leo melanochaita (Ch. H. Smith, 1842) | |
Synonyms[1] | |
formerly:
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The Southern lion (Panthera leo melanochaita),[2][3] also referred to as the East-Southern African lion,[4] is a subspecies of the lion in Southern and East Africa.[5][6] In this part of Africa, lion populations are regionally extinct in Lesotho, Djibouti and Eritrea.[7] Since the turn of the 21st century, lion populations in intensively managed protected areas in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe have increased, but declined in East African range countries.[8] They are threatened by loss of habitat and prey base, killing by local people in retaliation for loss of livestock, and in several countries also by trophy hunting.[7] The type specimen for P. l. melanochaita was a black-maned lion from the Cape of Good Hope, known as the Cape lion, and consequently, the scientific name was initially meant for it. The lion population in this part of South Africa is extinct.[9]