'Ekun' is a yoruba name for Tiger. Whatever does not exist in an environment usually doesn't get a name in that societies language. "Ekun" is a Yoruba word for Tiger. Scientists make the claim that Tigers are not found in our own part of the world, but how far into the history of the yoruba peoples have they gone?
If "Ekun" has never existed in our own climes, how come we not only have a name for it but also distinguish it from a leopard (Amotekun), another animal that is also said not to belong to our climes.
Another opinion is that Ekun may literally just mean a member of the Big Cat family that is not a lion.
Lion = Kiniun
Leopard = Ekun
Ekun can also mean panther, cheetah, wildcat, and sometimes hyena or even Tiger but Tigers are native of Asia really and the translations of African folk tales into European languages must have caused the confusion.