As a wildlife volunteer in Africa, you can contribute to wildlife conservation volunteer programs that have been set up to protect and conserve these great creatures. These parks have installed fences to help keep lions inside and reduce human-lion conflict. Koalas may become extinct by 2050 without urgent government intervention, according to a report published by the Parliament of New South Wales (NSW).Jul 9, 2020, With the expansion of human populations and increased land development, lion populations are quickly losing habitat. They arent in our backyard, and other people, such as locals and African biologists, understand them much better than we do. Involving communities directly in conservation is also an important element. Compared to the now-extinct North African lions, reintroduction with other African lions could be difficult. Poaching, too, poses a threat. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American. Many lions are already infected, and with such small populations remaining, they may not recover. They typically weigh between 330 to 550 pounds (150 to 250 kilograms), with males reaching the higher end of that range.Aug 19, 2019. Skin, teeth, paws, and claws are used in traditional rituals and medicine, and theres a growing market for lion parts in Asia as well. Heres what its like to dive French Polynesias shark alley, Theres a better way to hike the Inca Trail, 10 epic family adventures for last-minute planners, Why Floridas bioluminescent lagoon hangs in the balance, Photograph by Michael Nichols, Nat Geo Image Collection. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Barbary, or Atlas, lions once roamed throughout the deserts and mountains of northern Africa, ranging from Morocco to Egypt, far to the north of their sub-Saharan relatives. This is both a hopeful and anxiety-provoking situation with no easy answers. The illegal trade of wildlife is the fourth biggest illegal trade in the world. This illustrated graphic takes you through one of the greatest and most enigmatic engineering achievements of all time. Estimates claim that up to 80% of the remaining population could be lost by 2030. Warrior Watch recruits young Samburu menwho are traditionally excluded from conservation and wildlife management conversationsto scout the areas surrounding their communities for lions. These permits, Ashe said, would only be granted if the lion were taken from a scientifically proven hunting program that actually helps lion populations and if the number of lions taken by hunters is sustainable. Also, if the Gir Forest burns or gets affected by some natural disaster, the population would be at risk because they have nowhere else to go.
In 26 other African countries where lions once lived, they have gone extinct. The demand for tiger parts such as bones, teeth, and claws for medicinal products in Asia has fueled the illegal wildlife trade for years, but as they have become scarcer, the demand for lion bones has skyrocketed. An Associated Press article from 2019 lists the mountain lion population at about 4,353. Southern African countries have had more success in lion conservation than other countries, but simply fencing in parks wont save lions in other parts of Africa. But if the cats prey on cattle, they may be killed in retaliationoften by poison. When all lions from North Africa disappeared, all lions suited to live in that harsh, desert climate also disappeared. In exchange for their scouting and warning herders, the young men said theyd like education. He added that this was a chance for optimism: "We can be successful here," he said. At the current rate of habitat loss and poaching, African lions could be completely extinct by 2050. Extinction is the worst-case scenario, but there are plenty of undesirable options between an unthreatened species and an extinct one. 
In 1994, the lion population was up to 284 lions. While its likely we will see populations go extinct in the near future, the complete disappearance of lions from the planet is unlikely. :max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/WL003953-56a003b15f9b58eba4ae7b7b.jpg)
But in repeating the story of this well-documented death, the history books may have left a chapter or two out of the story.
It wasnt just Africans who admired them. The population count from the IUCN Red List is slightly more optimistic, but not much: They estimate there are, Experts estimate there are only about 20,000 left in the wild. If the benefits of living near lions can outweigh the cost, then people will choose to protect them, Dickman says. Knowledge awaits. Only about a dozen exist in the wild today. Now is the time to stop the loss and bring lions back to landscapes across the continent.. Also read: My Experience on the Predator Research Internship. Plenty of sufficient habitats exists for lions throughout this region. Unfortunately, many of the lion populations across Africa are confined to game reserves and national parks and are dependent on humans for the management of this habitat. They may have gone extinct in the wild decades ago, but its genes persist within around 100 captive lions scattered across more than a dozen zoos. In fact, some populations are of least concern, whereas others are critically endangered. How could the same species have all these designations? Lions inside these areas seem to be faring okay, with populations only slightly declining. 
At last count, scientists think there are fewer than 19 individuals. If her cubs are killed, the female will enter another estrus cycle, and the new pride leader will mate with her.Sep 29, 2017, If there's a fight, the tiger will win, every time." The total population of lions in Africa is currently estimated at about 34,000 animals, down by at least 50 percent from three decades ago. We were so excited with the results, Bhalla said. These animals, probably none of whom are pure Barbary lions, include descendants of the big cats once owned by Moroccos sultans and kings. To adapt to shifting weather patterns and changing habitats, animals migrate to new places that offer more suitable conditions. Lions no longer inhabit 80 percent of their historical habitat, surviving in only 28 African countries and India. In Europe the lions famously battled gladiators in the Roman Colosseum, were displayed in zoos and parks, and even lived briefly at the Tower of London. The iconic species has disappeared from 94 percent of its historic range, which once included almost the entire African continent but is now limited to less than 660,000 square miles. These regional extinctions are significant. With fewer than an estimated 25,000 in Africa, The number one country with the highest numbers of lions in the wild is, There are approximately 68,000 giraffes left in the wild. Follow John R. Platt on Twitter. 
A lioness will defend her cubs, but male lions are twice the size of females. Fish and Wildlife Service director Dan Ashe warned today. The Lion Recovery Fund has invested more than five million dollars in conservation projects in 17 countries since 2017, but theres still a serious budget crisis, Lindsey says. This plus increasing numbers of deer and elk allowed the lion population to slowly recover. To save the iconic African prides, conservationists are working toward driving down the costs related to living beside them and highlighting the local value that exists in protecting them.
The decision to list the big cats as threatenedone level below endangeredwould allow the U.S. government to provide some level of training and assistance for on-the-ground conservation efforts and restrict the sale of lion parts or hunting trophies into the country or across state lines. All three threats are inexorably linked. This crowding increases the potential for human-lion conflict.
One program, supported by National Geographic Societys Big Cats Initiative, is Warrior Watch, a project of the Kenya-based conservation nonprofit, Ewaso Lions.
Eat sea urchins. Read more about how poison is a growing threat to Africas wildlife. Today, that number is about 20,000. This way, if one population faces a large setback, it can be helped by the second population. The official FWS position, however, iterated today by Ashe, is that sports hunting does not contribute to lions being endangered, especially when revenues from these hunts support lion conservation efforts. The real loses occurred in populations outside these protected areas, where human-lion conflict is more likely. This led to general resentment towards wildlife, causing poaching and other undesirable actions. Fortunately, Eastern Africa has large protected areas. (How people estimated lion populations in 1893 is beyond me.)
In Africa, many people are living with dangerous animals, like lions and elephants, that are very challenging to live with.. The Romans killed thousands of lions in their games, the Arab empire that followed squeezed the remaining animals into smaller territories, and the influx of European colonialists in the 19th century polished them off. The lion's worst enemy is the hyena. If humans decide to reintroduce lions to these desert areas, where will we choose the lions from? Conservationists hope to halt the decline of the fragile species by supporting the coexistence of lions and humans across Africa. Conservation ethics aside, the positive population trend in southern Africa, combined with strong local buy-in to conservation, led the IUCN to give Southern African lions a least concern rating. Brehms Life of Animals: Volume 1, Mammalia (1895), Public domain. In fenced areas across this region, populations increased by 30%, whereas populations in unfenced areas decreased by 10%. Unfortunately, the presence of more humans is almost always bad for wildlife. About a third of the lions now live in areas among villages and people. Many more cancerous cells circulate in the blood at night, suggesting that time of day could play a role in diagnosis and treatment. An initiative of the Center for Biological Diversity. "The permit system will allow the U.S. government to monitor and evaluate the trophies that are coming in," Flocken says. Thanks for reading Scientific American. It seems like it should be easy to say whether a species is endangered or not. They are listed as vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN.
An adult male lion rests in the Serengeti. Flocken says the new permit process could "quickly and easily" help to minimize the threat that hunters pose to African lions by identifying trophies that come from areas where lions are more at riskor from "canned hunts," in which captive-raised lions are shot in controlled situations. Climate is a very grim, very real threat facing humans and animals, and lions are not exempt. Can we hack DNA in plants to help fight climate change? John lives on the outskirts of Portland, Ore., where he finds himself surrounded by animals and cartoonists. Because were talking about statistical probabilities, theres a confidence interval on that number, suggesting that the extinction date could have been slightly earlier or as late as 1965. For every lion in the wild, there are 14 African elephants, and there are 15 Western lowland gorillas. Some of these countries include Morocco, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, and Congo. And as human settlements grow, lions lose their habitat and see it fragmented, making it difficult for males to find new prides and mate. None were seen between 1901 and 1910.
