Lionesses with manes!

Has anyone studied these lionesses? Although a genetic explanation would be interesting (it reminds me of of how a pseudo-penis has evolved in hyenas out of clitoral tissue, and whose society is female dominated, although what is cause and what is effect is not entirely clear...), I worry a little about environmental reasons that also may be playing havoc with the endocrine system or epigenetics of these lions. Pedigree/genetic information could help to tease these things apart. A quick google search shows at least one captive lioness (from the Philadelphia Zoo) also has a mane which for me at least, leans towards the latter explanation....would love more info/insights into this, post a reply to me if you know more please-MA

From the Africa Geographic blog (post 1, post 2)
by GRANT ATKINSON
post 1 - may 2010
There are many opportunities to make a fool of yourself when you’re a field guide. I was once leading a group on a game drive at Mombo [Botswana], when we came across a pride of lions. Mombo is well known for its healthy lion population. We spent some time with the lions, and I carefully described what we were seeing, estimating ages and talking about the pride structure, which included two slightly smallish-looking young males.

Much later that same day, as it was getting to the end of our drive, we swung by the lions once again. This time there was another vehicle from camp in the sighting. I pulled up nearby, and began quietly talking to my group again, aware that I needed to add some new information to what I had already shared with them in the morning. I was busy mentioning how it wouldn’t be too long before the two young males in the pride would be ready to move off on their own, when the guide in the vehicle alongside caught my attention. “They’re females,” he tried to whisper. I didn’t hear him well enough, so he said it again, louder this time. “Ah,” I responded, sheepishly. As I was not based at the camp, and was travelling with my guests from one to the next, I hadn’t realized that I wasn’t looking at young males, but rather a pair of young female lions that have grown manes. The Mombo guides had been seeing the very unusual lions for some months and I had heard the news, but during the excitement of the sighting, I had forgotten all about them.

I felt like a real idiot, but fortunately the lions were interacting with one another, and my blunder took second place. Back in the late 1980s there was another lioness with a mane, nicknamed Martina (after the tennis player) by the camp guides. She was seen regularly at Mombo until eventually her entire pride drifted toward the edges of the game-drive areas and the sightings stopped. There were no more sightings of lionesses with manes until 2008, when a pride new to the area began to be seen around camp. This pride had two young females with quite substantial manes.

Clearly Martina’s genes were still out there, *or* perhaps others that were just very similar to hers. Nowadays I take a careful look at the back end of lions before I begin to talk!

post 2 - july 2010
A few months ago I posted a story with pictures about female lions with manes. The lionesses I wrote of were all seen at Mombo, in the Okavango Delta.

Since then I have visited Mombo again, and was lucky enough to encounter the pride with the unusual lionesses. However, I only had one brief sighting of the lioness, so the images I have included with this text are not great pictures, but they illustrate her size and features.

Unfortunately there are no longer two of these maned lionesses in the pride. One of the females was killed, apparently in the course of hunting buffalo, which is a dangerous pastime for lions whether they are equipped with a mane *or* not.The remaining lioness has grown bigger, and much heavier than the last time I saw her, which was almost a year back. Her mane has grown too, which makes her look even more like a male. I was most interested to hear from the Mombo camp guides that the pride males for this group of females, a pair of males known as the Western Boys, no longer spend much time with them. We have assumed that the Western Boys fathered the two maned lionesses. The Western Boys are a fine-looking coalition pair of males, and they are now consorting with another female pride, still in the Mombo area.

There is a new male with the Western Boys former pride though. Unfortunately, he was not around whilst I was there. News from the Mombo guides is that this male has taken to attacking the maned lioness, and attempts to chase her away from her female pride mates. He is apparently viewing her as a potential rival for mating rights. I did notice a well-healed scar on her neck during the sighting, which may have come from such a clash.

If this lioness has a normally functioning reproductive system, perhaps powerful chemical cues will override the male’s objection to her as it is now. Time will tell.

For more pictures go here and here