An alternative explanation is that manelessness is an adaptation to the thorny vegetation of the Tsavo area in which a mane might hinder hunting. One is that mane development is closely tied to climate because its presence significantly reduces heat loss. There are several hypotheses as to the reasons. Tsavo male lions generally do not have a mane, though colouration and thickness vary. Tsavo is a region of Kenya located at the crossing of the Uganda Railway over the Tsavo River, close to where it meets the Athi-Galana-Sabaki River. In sub-Saharan Africa, lions with weak manes were reported in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. Lions with such smaller manes were also known in the Syrian region and Arabian peninsula. In Iran there are often pictures of stone reliefs with Asiatic lions a without mane. Lions with such smaller manes were also known in the Syrian region, Arabian peninsula and Egypt, while in Gir Forest of India, cases of maneless lions are rarely reported. Lions that occurred in Mesopotamia had hair on the underbelly, unlike modern lions in the wilderness of India, and also, a relief from Nineveh in the Mesopotamian Plain shows a lion with underbelly hair. The manes of most lions in ancient Greece and Asia Minor were also less developed and did not extend to below the belly, sides or ulnas. The Asiatic lion is often considered to have a weak mane compared to its cousins in Africa, due to the hot climate in Asia, but this does not always apply.
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