Lions are the second largest cat in the world. Their scientific name is Panthera leo (Panthera Lion, 2020). The International Union of Conservation for Nature (IUCN) Red List labels lions as vulnerable with a decreasing population (IUCN Lions, 2020). Panthera states that lions in West Africa are classified as critically endangered (Panthera Lion, 2020). The difference in this comes from the IUCN Red List groups the entire species population as a while over their entire range, while other organizations can focus on smaller populations of countries. The IUCN Red List also estimates the lion population to be between 23,000 and 39,000 mature individuals while Panthera estimates that there are only 20,000 lions in the wild (IUCN Lions, 2020; Panthera Lion, 2020). This data was last assessed on June 20, 2014 so it may be out of date (IUCN Lions, 2020).
It is believed that lions have vanished from over 95% of their historic range, in just the last 100 years (Panthera Lion, 2020). Lions exist in 28 African countries but only one Asian country (Panthera Lion: Panthera leo, 2020). However, only six of these countries are known to have more than 1,000 lions (Panther Lion: Panthera leo, 2020). Lions are extinct in 26 African countries (Panthera Lion: Panthera leo, 2020). The map below shows the lions historic and current range.
Lions are carnivores and enjoy eating antelope, zebra, and wildebeests (AWF Lion, 2020). However, lions steal food from other carnivores, about 50% of their diet consists of stolen prey items (AWF Lion, 2020). Lions practice cooperative hunting, where they hunt in groups, which allows them to take down large prey like buffaloes, rhinos, hippos, and giraffes (AWF Lion, 2020). Female lions do about 85%-90% of the hunting (AWF Lion, 2020).
Human-lion conflict is a growing issue in areas where humans and lions struggle to coexist. Most lion organizations agree that retaliatory killings, poaching and direct killing of lions are the biggest threat facing lions, for this website we grouped all of these together under poaching (AWF Lion, 2020; Ewaso Lions Human-Carnivore Conflict, 2020; IUCN Lion, 2020; Lion Recovery Fund Threat to Lions, 2020; Panthera Lion, 2020). Other human-wildlife conflicts include habitat loss, livestock conflict and the illegal wildlife trade. One major way to avoid these conflicts is to practice coexistence with lions and other wildlife.
Literature Cited
African Wildlife Foundation. (2020). Wildlife conservation: Lion. https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/lion
Ewaso Lions. (2020). Human-carnivore conflict. https://ewasolions.org/human-carnivore-conflict/
International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. (2020). Lion: Panthera leo.
Lion Recovery Fund. (2020). Threats to lions. https://www.lionrecoveryfund.org/threats-to-lions/
Panthera. (2020). Lion. https://www.panthera.org/cat/lion
Panthera. (2020). Lion: Panthera leo.
file:///C:/Users/reedt/Downloads/Updated%20Lion%20Fact%20Sheet_0.pdf
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