Genetic testing on the skulls revealed that they were pure-bred Barbary lions, Panthera leo leo. For centuries, the Tower of London was home to a royal menagerie of exotic animals, from polar bears to ...

Barbary lions were a population of the lion ... After the Romans, the Arab empire forced the animals into a smaller habitat range. In the 19th century, the arrival of European hunters finally ...

But according to DNA research, Barbary lions were no longer a distinct subspecies. Since they were cold-weather animals, they acquired thick, dark, long manes draped over their shoulders.

This story appears in the November 2014 issue of National Geographic magazine. The Barbary macaque is a monkey of many distinctions. It is the only primate, other than humans, north of the Sahara ...