Kalahari lion
| Kalahari lion | |
|---|---|
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| Male Kalahari lion at a waterhole, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammaliaia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Genus: | Panthera |
| Species: | Panthera leo |
| Subspecies: | Panthera leo melanochaita |
| Trinomial name | |
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Panthera leo vernayi Roberts (1948) |
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| Synonyms | |
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The Kalahari lion was considered to be a lion subspecies native to the Kalahari Region in Southwest Africa, with the taxonomic name "Panthera leo vernayi." However, a map of subspecies of lions, provided by Haas et al. (2005), suggests that lions in the Kalahari Region are of two subspecies: Panthera leo krugeri and Panthera leo bleyenberghi. Otherwise, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (2016) proposed that Southern African lions be grouped under Panthera leo melanochaita.
'Black-maned' Cape lions, which were related to extant Kruger lions, may have been closely related to Kalahari lions. Given the rather close relationships between Southern and Eastern African lions, it was proposed that they should be grouped together as Panthera leo melanochaita, separate from Panthera leo leo, but some taxonomic issues are yet to be solved for this.
Roderigues (1997) said that number of males in the Kalahari xeric savannah had black manes. He also said that they were lighter than lions in Mesic habitats, yet taller at the shoulder than them. However, according to Smuts et al. (1980), lions in the Kalahari, Zimbabwe and Kruger National Park (South Africa) were heavier than East African lions, on average.
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