Tower's royal lions 'from Africa'


From BBC News 24

Two lion skulls found during excavations at the Tower of London originated in north-west Africa, genetic research suggests.
The big cats, which were kept by royals during medieval times, have the same genetic make-up as the north African Barbary lion, a DNA study shows.

Experts believe the animals were gifts to English monarchs in the 13th and 14th centuries.

At the time, the Barbary lion roamed across much of Africa.

The two well-preserved lion skulls were recovered during excavations of the moat at the Tower of London in 1937. They have been radiocarbon dated to AD 1280-1385 and AD 1420-1480.

Researchers at the University of Oxford extracted DNA from the skulls, and found that it matched that of the north African Barbary lion.


The Barbary Lion is a subspecies of lion that is now extinct in the wild
There are about 40 in captivity in Europe, with less than a hundred in zoos around the world
The Barbary lion formerly lived in North Africa from Morocco to Egypt

Comparison with the skulls of Asiatic and north African Barbary lions kept in museums in the UK and Europe gave further evidence of the link.

Dr Richard Sabin, Curator of Mammals at London's Natural History Museum, said the results were the first genetic evidence to clearly confirm that lions found during excavations at the Tower of London originated in north Africa.

He said: "Although we have one of the best mammal collections in the world here at the Natural History Museum, few physical remains survive of the Royal Menagerie.

"Direct animal trade between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa was not developed until the 18th Century, so our results provide new insights into the patterns of historic animal trafficking."

In historical times, the lion was found across Africa, the Middle East and India.

Dr Nobuyuki Yamaguchi of the Wildlife Conservation Unit at the University of Oxford said the growth of civilisations along the Egyptian Nile and Sinai Peninsula almost 4,000 years ago stopped gene flow, thereby isolating lion populations. The lion survived in the wild in western north Africa until about 100 years ago.


Dr Yamaguchi said: "Western north Africa was the nearest region to Europe to sustain lion populations until the early twentieth century, making it an obvious and practical source for mediaeval merchants.

"Apart from a tiny population in north-west India, lions had been practically exterminated outside sub-Saharan Africa by the turn of the 20th Century."

The Royal Menagerie was a collection of lions, leopards, bears and other exotic animals that were probably gifts to English monarchs.

It was established in the 12th and 13th Centuries by King John, in Woodstock near Oxford, and was later moved to the Tower of London. It was finally closed in 1835, on the orders of the Duke of Wellington.

The remaining animals were moved to the Zoological Society's Gardens in Regent's Park, now known as London Zoo.

I was able to view a Barbary lion in South Africa a number of years ago. It was in captivity at the time, I believe, at the Mohollohollo(sp) Game Reserve run by a Mr. Brian Jones in the Limpopo area.

As an aside to this it is interesting to note that the remains of a Barbary "ape" was found at Navan Fort near Armagh in Ireland. Best estimates of the date of death of the ape and of its burial are in and around 150BC.

Clearly this opens up all sorts of speculation about trade or movement between North Africa and Europe at that time and it is impossible to reach any firm conclusions. None the less in view of that fact that Navan was a high status site it seems likely that the ape was held, in a similar fashion to the lions, by some sort of "leader" to whom it was presented either by travellers from North Africa or by locals who had travelled to North Africa.

The parallels with the lion situation are certainly interesting and worthy of some reflection. While we may take modern transport for granted it is amazing, at least to me, to consider that over 2100 years ago people may well have been carrying apes about Europe as gifts. I can only imagine what the paperwork must have been like to take a live trophy home!