Thank you Kat and Jan! As always you are a reliable source of wisdom !

Regarding similar weather conditions in other African countries:

E.g. Botswana is hot and gets quite humid when the long rains are soon going to arrive. The same with Zambia. Extremely hot in October and humidity increasing towards the start of the rains.
Again in Zimbabwe: The same!

But clearly - I have not seen one adult male lion without a mane in those countries.

The same in the Kalahari region where the well known black maned lions comes from.

So Tsavo might have a combination of thick bush and heat which let evolve male lions without mane.

Extremely interesting theories...........

Again - Thank you very much!

And Jan - as you might leave any day from now on:
Travel safely and return in good health!
Enjoy every second on safari! I keep my fingers crossed that none of the snakes enters your
comfort zone!

Happy landings!

Yes, Pippa/Jan - the lions in the Kalahari have very full manes. But when we think about that desert we think "HOT" - actually the winters, and nights there can be extremely cold. Depending on the season and the elevations, Zambia and Zimbabwe can also get cooler than Tsavo.

The same was true of the Saharan lions which unfortunately have all been eradicated, only a few being left in the most southern extremes of the Sahara. Very full manes but in an environment of very cold desert nights and winters. (There are also a very few Asian lions left in the NW of India. They used to be distributed in Greece, throughout the Middle East and Northern India). Only about 20,000 left, if that, in all of Africa.

What's quite interesting is that zoo lions in warm climates tend to loose their manes or never develop full manes, while zoo lions in cool/northern locations either retain their large manes or develop larger manes the longer they remain in a cooler climate.

Think of a mane as a woolen scarf or hat - certainly something you'd want to shed in the hotter climate of Tsavo. Tsavo has dry and wet seasons but their is rarely a relenting of the heat factor.

I will ask Annie if there are any lions left in Sudan and where and what they look like when she returns to Kenya at the end of this month.

kat
Your explanation regarding desert/cold nights sounds very reasonable!

Here is another theory: Some researchers assume that high testosterone levels inhibit mane growth like it leads to male pattern baldness in humans. This would also be an explanation for the heightened aggressive tendencies that's ascribed to Tsavo's lions, although I asssume that lots of this is based on rumours...

Below you find an interesting article concerning this theory

[URL=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/04/0412_020412_TVtsavolions_2.html]Are maneless lions prone to male pattern baldness?[/URL]

Tobi:

Thanks for posting. Very interesting read.