Barbary lion that the Barbary lion does not differ significantly from lion samples collected in West and northern parts of Central Africa. It falls into the same phylogeographic group as the Asiatic lion. The Barbary lion was also called 'North African lion', 'Berber lion', 'Amazigh lion', 'Atlas lion', 'Egyptian lion', Barbary lion zoological specimens range in colour from light to dark tawny. Male lion skins have short manes, light manes, dark manes or long manes. Head-to-tail length of stuffed males in zoological collections varies from , and of females around . Skull size varied from . Some manes extended over the shoulder
Apex predator of such a smaller predator as a badger. Apex predators can have profound effects on ecosystems, as the consequences of both controlling prey density and restricting smaller predators, and may be capable of self-regulation. They are central to the functioning of ecosystems, the regulation of disease, and the maintenance of biodiversity. When introduced to subarctic islands, for example, Arctic foxes' predation of seabirds has been shown to turn grassland into tundra. Such wide-ranging effects on lower levels of an ecosystem are termed trophic cascades. The removal of top-level predators, often through human agency, can cause or disrupt trophic cascades. For