ORIGINAL PAPER A genetically distinct lion (Panthera leo) population from Ethiopia Susann Bruche & Markus Gusset & Sebastian Lippold & Ross Barnett & Klaus Eulenberger & Jörg Junhold & Carlos A. Driscoll & Michael Hofreiter Received: 29 September 2011 / Revised: 9 September 2012 / Accepted: 18 September 2012 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012 Abstract Lion (Panthera leo) numbers are in serious decline and two of only a handful of evolutionary significant units have already become extinct in the wild. However, there is continued debate about the genetic distinctiveness of different lion populations, a discussion delaying the initiation of con- servation actions for endangered populations. Some lions from Ethiopia are phenotypically distinct from other extant lions in that the males possess an extensive dark mane. In this study, we investigated the microsatellite variation over ten loci in 15 lions from Addis Ababa Zoo in Ethiopia. A comparison with six wild lion populations identifies the Addis Ababa lions as being not only phenotypically but also genetically distinct from other lions. In addition, a comparison of the mitochon- drial cytochrome b (CytB) gene sequence of these lions to sequences of wild lions of different origins supports the notion of their genetic uniqueness. Our examination of the genetic diversity of this captive lion population shows little effect of inbreeding. Immediate conservation actions, including a cap- tive breeding programme designed to conserve genetic diver- sity and maintain the lineage, are urgently needed to preserve this unique lion population. Keywords Addis Ababa . Captive breeding . Cytochrome B . Ethiopia . Lion . Microsatellites . Zoo Introduction The lion (Panthera leo) is, after the tiger (Panthera tigris), the second largest living felid species (Nowell and Jackson 1996; Macdonald and Loveridge 2010) and, as the top terrestrial predator in Africa, is a key species of the savannah ecosystem (Schaller 1972). Lions are among the best known of wild animal species and have played an important role in human culture (Patterson 2007). However, the geographical range and pop- ulation size of lions have both decreased dramatically due to anthropogenic causes, and this decline has accelerated in modern times. Once present in most parts of Africa, lions are now extinct in many regions of their former geographical range and threatened with extinction in others (IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group 2006a, b). Therefore, lions are today classi- fied as vulnerable according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Communicated by C. Gortázar S. Bruche (*) National Heart and Lung Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK e-mail: sbruche@ic.ac.uk S. Bruche : S. Lippold : M. Hofreiter Research Group Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany M. Gusset : K. Eulenberger : J. Junhold Leipzig Zoo, 04105 Leipzig, Germany M. Gusset : C. A. Driscoll Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Tubney, Abingdon OX13 5QL, UK R. Barnett Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK M. Hofreiter Department of Biology, The University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK Eur J Wildl Res DOI 10.1007/s10344-012-0668-5