Addis Ababa lion

Ethiopian lion
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Felidae
Genus:	Panthera
Species:	P. leo
Subspecies:	P. l. roosevelti
Trinomial name
Panthera leo roosevelti (Heller, 1913)

The Ethiopian lion (Panthera leo roosevelti), also called "Addis Ababa lion" or "Abyssinian lion," is considered a possible lion subspecies native to Ethiopia, following a genetic and phenotypic analysis on lions in Addis Abeba's zoo. Previously, researchers thought that the East African lion inhabited Ethiopia.

In 1914, the American zoologist Heller described the Ethiopian or Abyssinian lion under the name Felis leo roosevelti on the basis of a male lion presented to President Roosevelt, allegedly from the vicinity of Addis Abeba.

A DNA analysis was conducted on fifteen lions in the zoo, to six populations of wild lions, by a team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, and the University of York in the United Kingdom. The results showed little signs of inbreeding, and that they were genetically unique. Their uniqueness was shown from a comparison of their mitochondrial Cytochrome B (CytB) gene sequence, to sequences of wild lions of different origins.

Compared to other African lions, Ethiopian lions have darker manes and smaller bodies. However, the physical differences to wild lions may be due to their living in captivity, which can affect a lion's physical appearance. They may have been bigger in the past. Abyssinian lions appeared to have been bigger and thicker-maned than lions in Somalia (likely Panthera leo nubica), but smaller than what Heller called the "quite extinct" South African lion.

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Wikipedia