Löwe aus der Brabarey. Felis Leo barbaricus. Lion de Barbarie. 49.

Title

Löwe aus der Brabarey. Felis Leo barbaricus. Lion de Barbarie. 49.

Description

Decorativ view of a lion. From the book: Naturhistorische Bilder-Gallerie aus dem Thierreiche.

ca. 1827

Artist

Brodtmann (1787-1862)

Karl Joseph-Ioseph Brodtmann was an accomplished Swiss artist and lithographer, as well as a printmaker, publisher and bookseller who worked in Zurich and Schaffhausen. Brodtmann's natural history lithographs include Heinrich Rudolf Schinz's works on reptiles and birds, published in the early 1830s. Brodtmann also produced natural history lithographs, as Naturhistorische Bilder Gallerie aus dem Thierreiche.

Historical Description

Alongside the tiger, the lion is one of the two largest species in the cat family. Today, it is only found in parts of Africa south of the Sahara and in the Indian state of Gujarat; in Africa, it is the largest land predator. Unlike other cats, lions live in packs. During the last ice ages, lions had a large distribution area. In the last glacial period, it extended from Peru via Alaska, where the American lion was found, across Siberia and large parts of northern Asia and Europe, where the cave lion was found, to India, Arabia and Africa in the south. However, the lions lost a large part of this distribution area at the end of the Ice Age.