A Good Large Upper Section of a 19thC Male Lion’s Skull

Origin: African
Period: Mid/Late Nineteenth Century
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1870
Height: 5.5 inches (at maximum)
Width: 9.5 inches (at maximum)
Length: 14 inches (at maximum)

The large cranium of an African male lion (Panthera Leo) skull with deep eye sockets and nasal cavities, surviving from the latter half of the nineteenth century.

The condition of the whole is good with a well-aged patination and ivory hue making the skull very tactile. There is one section of loss to one side of one of the lower parts of the eye socket. There are no obvious clues as to how the lion died.

Unusually social compared to other cats, lions live and hunt in prides, preying on savannah creatures such as wildebeest, impalas, and zebras. Lions have the loudest roar of any of the big cats, which can be heard at a distance of up to 8 kilometers. Though they commonly avoid interaction with humans, incidences of lion attacks by “man-eaters” are not unheard of when food is scarce or lions become old or sick. The Panthera leo, the African lion, evolved in Africa between 1 million and 800,000 years ago.

A lion's skull is strong and heavy, with deep ridges and hollows for the attachment of powerful jaw muscles and looks very much alike that of a tiger although slightly more depressed and flattened and with a shorter postorbital region.

Tabletop antique osteology for those who like their interiors to mutter tales of slow sultry days in African wilds, of moonlit nights and scarlet dawns.