The Cape lion (Panthera leo melanochaitus) was long thought to be the close relative of East African lion. Sadly we do not know much about these lions.
Naturalists in the nineteenth century described cape lions as a separate subspecies of a lion.
The lion likely became extinct in 1850s.
They used to eat large ungulates including giraffes, gemsbok, Thomson’s gazelles, blue wildebeests, zebras, wartho
gs, buffaloes, kobs, and impalas.
The official status of Cape lions is not known. In the year 2000 two lions which were believed to be cape lions moved from Russia to the South African zoo.
They could eat animals weighing as much as 200 kilograms.
