What Threats Do Lions Face, and How Can We Save Them?
Lions have been considered “king of beasts” from time immemorial, but they are now facing extinction in our lifetime. The Asiatic lion persists only in the area around a national park in Gujarat, India. Half of Africa's lion population has been lost in the last 25 years. It is estimated that only about 20,000 – 25,000 lions are now living in the wild across the continent today.
A recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit of the University of Oxford indicates it may take as much as $3 billion annually to save Africa's remaining lion populations. The study is the first to consider both ecological and socio-political risk factors in assessing lion population vulnerabilities.
Challenges Facing Wild Lion Populations
As apex predators, lions depend on a vast ecological system that works well. Conservationists have traditionally understood the following to be the key challenges facing Africa's lions:
Habitat Loss and Fragmentation: As human populations expand, there is increased pressure on lion habitats due to agriculture, urbanization, and infrastructure development. Smaller, fragmented wilderness areas make it difficult for lions to roam freely to mate and hunt prey.
Depletion of Prey: Loss of wilderness can also impact prey species, reducing food sources for lions. This can lead to malnutrition and reduced reproductive success.
Human-Wildlife Conflict: This same human encroachment introduces conflict between lions and humans. Where lions prey on livestock, farmers will retaliate to protect their livelihoods.
Disease: Diseases such as canine distemper and bovine tuberculosis can be transmitted to lions from domestic animals. These diseases can devastate lion populations.
Poaching and Illegal Hunting: Despite strict regulations and international bans on the trade of lion products, poaching still persists. Lions are poached for their bones, skins, and other body parts, which are sometimes used in traditional medicine or sold as trophies. Illegal activities also include smuggling live cubs for the exotic pet trade.
Climate Change: Climate change can affect prey distribution and abundance, impacting the food availability for lions. Additionally, changes in temperature and weather patterns may alter the lion's habitat, forcing them to adapt to new conditions.
Lack of Conservation Funding: About 75% of lions live in countries within the top 25% of global poverty rankings. As a result, conservation efforts may lack adequate funding.
The new Oxford study, however, has added some new elements to the conservation issue. Researchers concluded that conservation costs would be significantly higher in countries with poor socio-political conditions, due to these factors:
Conservation policy: Lion populations are more fragile in countries where this is no commitment to an action plan for their protection, fewer wildlife treaties, and fewer designated preserves and parks.
Government effectiveness: Political infrastructure can be less developed and ineffective in poorer nations and those that experience conflict. Even when their intentions are good, less effective governments can impede successful conservation efforts.
Political stability: Many lion habitats are in conflict zones. Poor political stability distracts locals from conservation efforts and limits the will and ability of international agencies to work in such countries.
Control of corruption: Some countries are beset by high levels of corruption. This can deter conservation foreign investment and lead to misappropriation of conservation funding.
Signs of Success
The challenges above can appear overwhelming, but there is some good news—some protected areas in Africa are showing increases in their lion populations. Lions have been spotted for the first time in years in parks in Mozambique, Chad, Zambia, and Senegal. These successes are the result of collaboration between multiple stakeholders. State land and previously unprotected private properties have been used to create corridors between protected areas.
Zinave National Park, Mozambique
In 2021, Zinave National Park in Mozambique saw its first lion in several decades. Two years later, an additional lioness and cub were spotted in the park. Zinave extends 1,575 square miles, making up the eastern part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA) in Southern Africa. The GLTFCA includes a varied mix of state-owned and private property spanning South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.
By 2015, civil war had decimated Zinave’s wildlife, so it was necessary to “rewild” it. Some 2,400 animals like elephants, buffalo, and antelopes were brought back and released as security in the park improved. They reproduced to about 9,000, and these key species facilitated the return of others, including lions. Rangers don't know where the lions come from in the GLTFCA, but their arrival in Zinave proves that "mosaic" corridors are adequate to allow the king of beasts to roam between greater protected areas.
Zakouma National Park, Chad
By 2010, rampant poaching had ravaged the wildlife in Zakouma National Park in Chad. It took until 2017 to eliminate the poachers, at which time the neighboring Siniaka Minia Wildlife Reserve and Bahr Salamat Faunal Reserve were brought under Zakouma’s management. The three reserves are the heart of the new Greater Zakouma Ecosystem (GZE). Extending 10,900 square miles, the GZE is an unfenced mosaic of varied-use land.
In 2021, a radio-collared lion walked 25 miles from the south of Zakouma to the Aouk Project Area. In 2022, another young male traveled 100 miles from Zakouma to Siniaka Minia in the dry season. Their journeys proved the connectivity of the lion population across southern Chad and that such corridors are essential.
African lions need our help. Historically, they roamed freely across the Middle East, Southern Asia, Africa, and Southern Europe. However, they have been eradicated in most of their historic range and are now restricted to sub-Saharan Africa and a tiny sliver of India. In many cases, their habitat lies in lower-income or politically unstable countries that do not have the resources to enforce conservation. While conservation is complex and often inhibited by ecological, social, and political factors, there are signs of hope. Collaboration between stakeholders and the creation of connected preserves have been instrumental in giving lions a better chance of survival as a species.