I've seen a few old english noblemen with a lion on their family Crest. How would this have been possible? The lions also are pictured as African lions. I could understand if they were mountain lions but the fact that they are African lions is what is puzzling. I cant imagine there was much travel to Africa 100s of years ago. Did they create a Crest with an animal they had never seen before but only heard rumors of? Or where there once big lions that roamed in England back then?