A lion's mane is more than just a bushy bunch of fur framing a big cat's face. A mane is a declaration of a lion's vitality, fighting prowess and social status as well as an acknowledgement of the climate in which the lion lives. This is the conclusion made by scientists who studied nearly 300 lions in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park.
Only male lions grow manes—females lack the long fur around their face and neck. This difference in appearance between the sexes mean that lions are sexually dimorphic.
It was long thought that manes were shaped largely on the anvil of sexual selection. Males with more impressive manes won more mates and left more offspring. Of course, there were other tentative explanations as well. One was that a lion's mane creates an illusion of bulk, making a male lion appear bigger and fiercer than it would if it lacked a mane, as is illustrated in this picture. The mane thus is shaped merely by its ability to entice mates but also for its effectiveness in discouraging male rivals. Another explanation was that the mane provides a lion with protection during a fight, making it difficult for attackers to grasp at the lion's vulnerable neck area. Although there may be truth in all of these explanations, there's yet more to the story of the lion's mane.
In 2002, Peyton West and Craig Packer from the University of Minnesota published a paper in the journal Science exploring the many factors that influence lions' manes. The details they gathered revealed that a lion's mane communicates a wealth of information—the condition of the mane reflects the lion's nutrition, testosterone levels, fighting ability, health, age and the climate in which it lives.
Peyton West and Craig Packer found that there are two characteristics of manes that convey different types of information. The first of these characteristics is mane darkness. A lion with a darker mane tends to have better nutrition, higher testosterone levels, a longer reproductive life-span, and a higher offspring survival rate than a lion with a lighter colored mane. The second of these characteristics is mane length. A lion with a longer mane tends to have higher fighting success and better health than a lion with a shorter mane.
Mane length and darkness are also influenced by climate. Lions that live in warmer habitats have shorter, lighter manes than those that inhabit cooler regions. Throughout the year, an individual lion's mane can vary based on the temperatures that prevail—a lion's mane is darker during cooler months than it is during hotter months.
If a lion's mane can be altered by the temperature of the habitat in lives in, then it is susceptible to the effects of climate change. As temperatures around the globe edge upwards, lions' manes are likely to change in response. The lions of the future may well have lighter colored, shorter manes.
Refs:
West, P. (2002). Sexual Selection, Temperature, and the Lion's Mane Science, 297 (5585), 1339-1343 DOI: 10.1126/science.1073257
Photo © Lifeonwhite.com / Getty Images.
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