Big cats out of the ordinary

 The mysterious buffalo lions of East Africa 

   When we think about lion mutations we often think of the albino lion or for the more knowledgeable the tsavo lions, But these are not the only mutations that exist in lions, there are many more seen so little that they remain a mystery as is the case that we will see below, Thank you for reading, I hope you support, without further ado, let's get started.

A mysterious mutation 

  Buffalo lions are a hypothetical variety of lion that is said to live in eastern Africa, especially the Kenya region, where they have been seen on most occasions.

These are characterized by being larger and more corpulent than common lions, in addition to the fact that according to their adult males they do not have a mane, It is said that unlike other lions, they do not travel in herds and are said to include humans as part of their diet, although this is nothing more than a myth, They have often been seen hunting buffalo, hence their name.

These have been sighted mostly in the Kenya area, although we could also list the famous Tsavo lions along with these, among the many sightings we can list the following

Sightings 

The first documented was stated in Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London of 1833 where the skins of a Lion and Lioness killed in Gujarat by Captain Walter Smee were said to have been exhibited, who, at the request of the President of the society, declared that they were selected from eleven obtained by him in the same country, eight of whom he had brought with him to England, especially highlighting the male, since he was larger than a common lion and did not have a mane. 

The most relevant occurred in 1998, when two maneless male lions were photographed in Tsavo National Park, western Kenya, after knocking down a buffalo cow, These lions were larger and more muscular than normal lions, in addition to having shorter and more spread fur, here we have a photo.

In fact, tsavo lions are characterized by not having a mane as such and being a little larger, Although the reason for such adaptations is not known, it is theorized that it may be due to climate factors or an adaptation to thorny vegetation.

Here we see another lion from West Africa, in Pendjari National Park, Benin, which also does not have a bushy mane.

And here we see a male East African lion with a sparse mane in the Samburu National Reserve, Kenya, although these could not be followed to know their behavior, so it is doubtful to say that they are the same mutation.

However, these sightings were not restricted to Africa alone, there have been writings and ancient texts showing similar lions in Asian regions, The most famous text being Alexander the Great's Indian campaigns, where he mentions his battles against white lions the size of bulls that had no mane.

So in ancient Greece and Asia Minor these animals were mentioned, and in fact the lions in Mesopotamia had hair on the lower part of their bellies, Unlike modern lions in the Indian desert, reliefs from Nineveh, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt and Iran also show lions with these characteristics, They have also been seen in Baghdad and Senegal... but?...what are they?...

Hypothesis 

 These lions, because they do not have a mane, their size and their robustness are most likely somewhat genetically different from normal lions and, As such, they are more likely to be a mutation, which usually appears in lions on a regular basis, than anything else, Although it has not been possible to explain it due to the lack of evidence, and more because the cases are very sporadic, some think that they are just lions with mange, Although those who have seen them and know what the disease is like claim that this is not the case and that they are something else, until now they have not been able to be studied, since they are only known by hypotheses, sporadic sightings and some photographs, so this will surely be a mystery, more so because the lions now face a serious crisis, from which we hope they can emerge.

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[Links de lectura]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneless_lion

https://occult-world.com/buffalo-lion/

http://messybeast.com/genetics/lions-maneless.htm