Those characteristics were considered to be useful for assessing the morphological similarity of a lion to the extinct Barbary lion, including a huge dark mane spreading behind the shoulders and covering the belly - but recent research suggests that mane size and colour may not be useful for this purpose

Only Categories I & II animals were included into the breeding programme - seven zoos initially participated in the breeding programme: Rabat, Washington (USA), Havana (Cuba), Lyon (France), Frankfurt, Leipzig (Germany), and Dvur Králové (Czech Republic)

A male Asian lion (P. l. persica) in Tierpark, Berlin - recent molecular work suggests that the extinct North African Barbary lion is phylogenetically closer to the Asian lion than to sub-Saharan African lions - Asian males often develop huge dark manes in cooler places

Olomouc Zoo is still (as in 2009) interested in breeding the Moroccan royal lion

A male exclusively originated from Category I animals, Olomouc Zoo, Czech Republic

Port Lympne is one of the few zoos interested in keeping and breeding the Moroccan royal lion outside Morocco at the moment (as in 2009)

A Rabat-born male kept in Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, UK

A male exclusively originated from Category I animals, Ostrava Zoo, Czech Republic

Until recently, a few zoos in Czech Republic kept animals which were exclusively originated from Category I animals - a male in Dvur Králové Zoo

A "Moroccan Royal Lion" at the Parc Zoologique Nationale de Rabat (Rabat Zoo), Temara, Morocco - the Moroccan royal lion has been often referred to in connection with the extinct North African Barbary lion

The possible importance of the Moroccan royal lion in connection with the Barbary lion was pointed out by an German naturalist Wolfgang Frey, and Yves Raymond, then Director, Rabat Zoo, started to seek outsiders' advice

Two German zoologists, Helmut Hemmer and Paul Leyhausen visited Rabat Zoo in 1974, and classified the surviving animals into three categories (Categories I, II, and III) based on morphological characteristics

And it has become difficult to trace the exact pedigrees of Rabat animals although it was likely that they had been exclusively originated from either Categories I or II animals, or both until 1998 when the record was updated

The definition of the Moroccan royal lion should be a lion whose pedigree is exclusively derived from (selected individuals) of the lions moved from the royal palace to Rabat Zoo in 1970, or from other Moroccan royal lions

Many females have been allowed to access the outdoor enclosure at Rabat Zoo

What about other zoos?

Further south - for driving in the sand desert one needs to be familiar with the area (our car was stuck in the sand for more than an hour)

Crossing the Atlas to the south on the way to Ouazazate - according to a famous 18th Century French naturalist Buffon lions in Biledulgerid (hot dry land south of the Atlas) were fiercer than were those living in the cooler Atlas

Zagora, apparently it takes 50 days from Zagora to Timbuktu (Mali) by camel - a famous 15-16 Century Arab writer diplomat Joannes Leo Africanus (as known in the West), who referred to Barbary lions, travelled from Fez (Morocco) to Timbuktu

Entrance to the Sahara - a local gentleman told me that desert men had to learn how to read the stars at night to navigate

Very simple, and very beautiful

Leaving Ouazazate for the further south to Zagora - the vast oasis in the Drâa Valley between Ouazazate and Zagora

The Moroccan Atlas was one of the last homes for the North African Barbary (or Atlas) lion (Panthera leo leo) - a 19th Century traveller John Ormsby referred to lions' roars filling valleys with echoes

Those lions apparently preyed on wild boars (Sus scrofa) and domestic sheep (Ovis aries) in the 19th Century

A famous French lion hunter in North Africa, Jules Gérard followed lion trail in the snow in the 19th Century - in the 21st Century our car was stuck in the snow