How Many Types Of Lions Are There?

If you're trying to name the different types of lion, there are four categories you should look at:

• Lion sub-species that exist in modern times.
• Pre-historic lions that we have fossilized evidence of.
• Lion sub-species that may have existed or are thought to have existed in the past (but can't be confirmed).
• Hybrids - the offspring that result from a lion mating with another big cat.

Different types of lion

In terms of modern-day lions, the following are all recognized sub-species of the Panthera leo (the scientific name for a lion) that still exist to this day:

• Asiatic Lion
• Barbary Lion (is extinct in the wild, but still exists in captivity.)
• Cape Lion (became extinct in the wild in around 1860.)
• East African Lion
• Northeast Congo Lion
• Southeast African Lion
• Southwest African Lion
• West African Lion

The term 'prehistoric lion' refers to the species of lion that we only know existed through fossilized remains. The following are all sub-species that once roamed the earth, but which are now considered extinct:

• American Lion
• Early Middle Pleistocene European Cave Lion
• European Cave Lion
• Beringian Cave Lion

As well as this list of verified pre-historic lions, most scientists believe there were a dozen or so other sub-species that existed. However, because we don't have clear evidence to support their existence, we'll have to leave them off our list until archaeologists find fossils that prove otherwise!

Finally, the category of 'hybrid' lions contains a number of sub-species that are the result of cross-breeding between a lion and another big cat.

Examples include 'ligers' and 'tigons'. I find these hybrid lions very intriguing because they often share traits and characteristics of both parents.