UV Refresher please -- Can Dynamic lighting make UV's irrelevant (at the cost of performance)?

Any mesh can be unwrapped, because all meshes are made up of 2D surfaces. Obvious things would be making cuts on natural borders of the mesh, like around the goggles and under the mane, or between its folds. However you would unwrap it to make a flat surface if it were a physical object made of a thin material. Or if it were a real lion and you were trying to skin it.