From some extremely rare subspecies to lions of almost mythical status, here are nine of the most unique lions in the world!
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9: Barbary Lion
Barbary lions, also known as Atlas lions, are the biggest subspecies of lion currently existing in the world. And we’re not talking about ligers! These are legitimate lions, and they actually look quite similar to the lions from Disney’s The Lion King. Barbary lions have been extinct for quite some time, but they are still being kept alive in captivity.
8: Black Lion
You may have seen images circulating recently online of black lions. These lions are seen standing in the Sahara looking all majestic and beautiful, and they do look extremely real. However, the sad truth is that the black lion is a myth. Every last image online that you see of a black lion is fake.
7: White Lion
Contrary to popular belief, the white lion is not actually an albino. Neither does the white lion have bleached hair! Instead, the white lion is an extraordinarily unique animal and something of an anomaly in the animal kingdom. White lions are also under threat of extinction. Unfortunately, they have been technically extinct in the wild for almost 15 years.
6: Liger Hybrid
A lot of people don’t know that ligers are real animals. But these are not like mythical chimeras, part lion, part snake, and a part goat! Ligers are the direct result of a male lion breeding with a female tiger. The opposite of a liger is actually known as a tigon, the result of a male tiger mating with a female lion.
5: Hercules
And continuing with the magnificent ligers, there is a particular kitten that has the title of the biggest living cat according to the Guinness World Records. His name is Hercules. Thanks to his unique genes, with its 131 inches (3.5) long Hercules is incredibly large. He weighs nearly 1000 pounds (450 kg) and eats roughly 30 pounds (14 kg) of meat a day.
4: Sizanani
Sizanani is one of the most unique lions on the planet. Sizanani was a long-time resident of the Manyeleti Game Reserve in the greater Kruger National Park in South Africa. He was known as a true survivor, according to National Geographic, and was the most famous lion in all of South Africa. He was born in early 2007 into a pride with roughly twenty other young.
3: Cape Lion
Cape Lions were once some of the most fearsome felines on the planet. They lived on the opposite side of Africa from the Barbary lions, roaming far in the South of South Africa. In fact, this is why they are called Cape lions, since they originated from the Cape of Good Hope. While they no longer exist, as they were sadly hunted and captured to extinction in the 1800s, they were once a very proud and unique race of lions.
2: Ethiopian Lion
Ethiopia is one of the most amazing countries on earth. It is home to the Ethiopian lion, which is one of the world’s rarest and most unique lions. Why? As recently as 2016 an entire population of Ethiopian lions was discovered in a National Park. There are now an estimated 100 to 200 Ethiopian lions living in the northwest of the country, very near to the Sudanese border.
1: Cave Lion
Cave Lions are the coolest of all Lions, and so they have to be number one on the list. You may wonder why he is called the cave lion and no, it was not because he lived there but because most of his skeletons were found in bear caves. They probably thought it was a good place to hibernate, but it wasn’t!
#rarestlions #uniquelions #rarespecies #epicwildlife
