Editing Lion (section)

===Captive breeding===
[[File:India Animals.jpg|thumb|Captive male Asiatic lions in [[Sanjay Gandhi National Park]], India]]

Lions imported to Europe before the middle of the 19th century were possibly foremost Barbary lions from North Africa, or Cape lions from Southern Africa.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barnett |first1=R. |last2=Yamaguchi |first2=N. |last3=Shapiro |first3=B. |last4=Nijman |first4=V. |year=2007 |title=Using ancient DNA techniques to identify the origin of unprovenanced museum specimens, as illustrated by the identification of a 19th century lion from Amsterdam |url=http://dpc.uba.uva.nl/cgi/t/text/get-pdf?c=ctz;idno=7602a02 |journal=Contributions to Zoology |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=87–94 |access-date=27 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522041326/http://dpc.uba.uva.nl/cgi/t/text/get-pdf?c=ctz;idno=7602a02 |archive-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=dead |doi=10.1163/18759866-07602002 |s2cid=2131247}}</ref> Another 11 animals thought to be Barbary lions kept in [[Addis Ababa Zoo]] are descendants of animals owned by [[Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia|Emperor Haile Selassie]]. WildLink International in collaboration with [[Oxford University]] launched an ambitious International [[Barbary lion|Barbary Lion Project]] with the aim of identifying and breeding Barbary lions in captivity for eventual reintroduction into a national park in the [[Atlas Mountains]] of Morocco.<ref name="yamaguchi-haddane">{{Cite journal |last=Yamaguchi |first=N. |author2=Haddane, B. |year=2002 |title=The North African Barbary Lion and the Atlas Lion Project |journal=International Zoo News |volume=49 |pages=465–481}}</ref> However, a genetic analysis showed that the captive lions at Addis Ababa Zoo were not Barbary lions, but rather closely related to wild lions in Chad and Cameroon.<ref name="Bruche_al2012">{{Cite journal |last=Bruche |first=S. |author2=Gusset, M. |author3=Lippold, S. |author4=Barnett, R. |author5=Eulenberger, K. |author6=Junhold, J. |author7=Driscoll, C. A. |author8=Hofreiter, M. |title=A genetically distinct lion (''Panthera leo'') population from Ethiopia |journal=European Journal of Wildlife Research |year=2012 |pages=215–225 |doi=10.1007/s10344-012-0668-5 |volume=59 |issue=2 |s2cid=508478}}</ref>

In 1982, the [[Association of Zoos and Aquariums]] started a [[Species Survival Plan]] for the Asiatic lion to increase its chances of survival. In 1987, it was found that most lions in North American zoos were hybrids between African and Asiatic lions.<ref name=OBrien1987>{{cite journal |author1=O'Brien, S. J. |author2=Joslin, P. |author3=Smith, G. L. III |author4=Wolfe, R. |author5=Schaffer, N. |author6=Heath, E. |author7=Ott-Joslin, J. |author8=Rawal, P. P. |author9=Bhattacharjee, K. K. |author10=Martenson, J. S. |year=1987 |title=Evidence for African origins of founders of the Asiatic lion Species Survival Plan |journal=Zoo Biology |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=99–116 |doi=10.1002/zoo.1430060202 |url=http://dobzhanskycenter.bio.spbu.ru/pdf/sjop/MS129_O%27Brien_ZooBiol.pdf |access-date=25 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225092713/http://dobzhanskycenter.bio.spbu.ru/pdf/sjop/MS129_O%27Brien_ZooBiol.pdf |archive-date=25 February 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Breeding programs need to note origins of the participating animals to avoid cross-breeding different subspecies and thus reducing their conservation value.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Frankham |first1=R. |last2=Ballou |first2=J. |last3=Briscoe |first3=D. |title=Introduction to Conservation Genetics |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2009| isbn=978-0-521-70271-3 |location=Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid |edition=Second |chapter=Genetic management of Captive Populations |pages=430–452 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vLZKnsCk89wC&pg=PA437 |access-date=25 May 2019}}</ref> Captive breeding of lions was halted to eliminate individuals of unknown origin and [[Pedigree (animal)|pedigree]]. Wild-born lions were imported to American zoos from Africa between 1989 and 1995. Breeding was continued in 1998 in the frame of an African lion Species Survival Plan.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Daigle, C. L. |author2=Brown, J. L. |author3=Carlstead, K. |author4=Pukazhenthi, B. |author5=Freeman, E. W. |author6=Snider, R. J. |year=2015 |title=Multi-institutional survey of social, management, husbandry and environmental factors for the SSP African lion Panthera leo population: examining the effects of a breeding moratorium in relation to reproductive success |journal=International Zoo Yearbook |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=198–213 |doi=10.1111/izy.12073 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270901189}}</ref>

About 77% of the captive lions registered in the [[International Species Information System]] in 2006 were of unknown origin; these animals might have carried genes that are extinct in the wild and may therefore be important to the maintenance of the overall [[genetic variability]] of the lion.<ref name=BarnettYamaguchi2006>{{Cite journal |last1=Barnett |first1=R. |last2=Yamaguchi |first2 =N. |last3=Barnes | first3=I. |last4=Cooper |first4=A. |date=2006 |title=Lost populations and preserving genetic diversity in the lion ''Panthera leo'': Implications for its ''ex situ'' conservation |journal=Conservation Genetics |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=507–514 |doi=10.1007/s10592-005-9062-0 |bibcode=2006ConG....7..507B |s2cid=24190889 |url=http://abc.zoo.ox.ac.uk/Papers/consgen06_lion.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060824064412/http://abc.zoo.ox.ac.uk/Papers/consgen06_lion.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 August 2006}}</ref>