Under the influence of rapid human development, the number of wild animals on the earth has decreased rapidly, especially large carnivores, in a situation that is even more embarrassing. Nowadays, the most powerful cat animals on the earth are lions...
Under the influence of rapid human development, the number of wild animals on the earth has decreased rapidly, especially large carnivores, in a situation that is even more embarrassing. Nowadays, the most powerful cat animals on the earth are lions and tigers. As the largest one, Siberian tiger is as strong as Lu Bu among tigers, and is recognized as the king of felines. Therefore, many people also believe that tigers are more powerful than lions and are the ones who hold the ears of the cat family.
In fact, hundreds of years ago, there were also people among the lions that were comparable to Siberian tigers. They were as powerful as Xiang Yu among the lions. They were larger than Siberian tigers. They were the well-deserved king of cats, and they were the Barbary lion, the king of the lion king. Let’s learn about it today.
1. A huge and vigorous maverick in a thousand miles.
Barbary lions live in the area around the Atlas Mountains in North Africa. They are about one-third larger than the current African lions. Although they live in North Africa, they are not related to African lions, but are closer to Asian lions.
Barbary lion is huge in size and is the first of the three major carnivorous animals in North Africa. Due to its strong strength, they do not need to hunt in groups. Instead, they mostly act alone and fight head-on when encountering prey. Barbary lions have strong hunting skills. Compared with body shape and fighting skills, they are more powerful than Siberian tigers among tigers. Because the climate in North Africa is relatively cold and the prey is scattered, the Barbary lion has a relatively large range of movement and is called the Mavericks of Thousand Miles.
2. The warrior who blocked the tiger's migration west by his own efforts.
The evolutionary history of lions was much earlier than that of tigers, and their ancestors once competed with beasts such as saber-toothed tigers in the wild ancient times. As specialized predators such as saber-toothed tigers withdrew from the stage of history, conventional lions and tigers gradually became the protagonists of the wild world. More than two million years ago, after the birth of the Northwest my country, tigers immediately became the main competitor of lions. As a powerful feline beast, tigers began to spread around after birth, going east to North China and Northeast my country to become North China and Siberian tigers; South China tigers and various tiger species evolved southwards; while the westward part is the most important role, they are Caspian tigers.
Why is the Caspian tiger the most important role among tigers? This is because they bear the heavy responsibility of tigers to expand into Africa, while the Barbary lion and its close-knit Asian lions form a barrier that hinders the tiger's continued westward migration.
3. The protagonist of the Colosseum.
The most well-known Barbary lion is that it was once the protagonist of the Colosseum in history. In ancient Rome, the nobles established the Colosseum for entertainment, and the protagonists were slaves and beasts, and the most important beast was the Barbary lion. During the ancient Roman period, hundreds of Barbary lions were captured from North Africa every year, most of which were eventually killed.
4. Too far from heaven and too close to Europe, the habitat was first colonized and was brutally hunted. The tragedy of the Barbary lion is that its habitat is too close to Europe. Europe is the initiator of world colonialism. The Barbary lion lives around the Atlas Mountains and borders Europe. Before colonialism prevailed, Europe was already hunting Barbary lions, but due to the backwardness of weapons and equipment, Barbary lions could survive. After the beginning of the colonial era, European colonists even hunted and captured African wild animals in a large number, and the strong ships and sharp guns made the Barbary lion dare to fight back. There are many captured Barbary lions in the Tower of London. Some hotels and circuses use Barbary lions as pets for viewing or performing, while wild Barbary lions are gradually extinct.
5. The last Barbary lion was photographed and shot.
Early twentieth century. As the Barbary lion became more and more rare, European colonists became more and more enthusiastic about hunting Barbary lions. Many people searched in the wild for months to hunt a rare Barbary lion, but almost all returned in vain. In 1922, a three-person team led by photographer Miyudan Tayjan set out to Morocco, the last habitat of Barbary lions. They searched for nearly nine months without finding anything, so they planned to return to Europe.
It happened that during their return, once in the evening, they set up a tent early. After his two companions rested, Miyudan Taejan could not fall asleep. Looking at the magnificent sunset scenery, he picked up his camera and planned to take a picture of the scenery again. He climbed up a hillside, and while adjusting the angle, he suddenly found a black dot moving at the foot of the mountain. After he quickly approached, he finally saw clearly that it was a Barbary lion. He was ecstatic and quickly pressed the shutter and recorded the lion. He then ran back, picked up his hunting rifle and chased it. After a few gunshots, the last Barbary lion in the world was hunted, and Taejan got only one fur.
