The terrible decline in the number of lions in Africa

    The terrible decline in the number of lions in Africa

    Lion populations in West and Central Africa are in sharp decline, and there will be a further 50% reduction over the next two decades if a major conservation effort is not implemented, according to a new survey.





    The population of lions in West and Central Africa is in abrupt decline and there will be a further reduction of the 50% in the next two decades if a major conservation effort is not implemented. This is the alarm that comes from a new study published in PNAS, according to which the number of lions is decreasing, albeit in a less dramatic way, even in East Africa, long considered the main one stronghold of the species.

    A group of scholars from a larger global organization for the lion conservation, including among others the University of Oxford, has thus estimated the life trajectory of 47 different lion populations through the analysis of trend data from each region of Africa. An analysis that showed that, although most lion populations are in decline, they have occurred increases in lion populations in four southern countries: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe (and here we do not forget the sad story of lion Cecil) .

    “These results clearly indicate that the decline of lions it can be stopped, even reversed as in southern Africa. Unfortunately, lion conservation is not happening on a larger scale, which leads to a vulnerable state of lions globally. In fact, the decline in many countries is very serious and has huge implications, ”says Hans Bauer of WildCRU, who led the study.

    Even the African lion, as well as the snow leopard, is included by the IUCN (World Union for Conservation of Nature) in the category “Endangered” on the Red List of Threatened Species, although here the lion has a fundamental role as the first carnivore on the continent. But who or what is to blame? Of poachers, first of all, but also of the slow demographic growth (especially in West Africa), of the increase in cattle breeding and the decrease in the number of prey due to habitat loss.



    And it is not enough that the lions used in circuses around the world return to their homes, the reality is that "the free fall of the African lion populations we are seeing today could inexorably change the landscape of African ecosystems", thunders Dr. Luke Hunter, one of the authors.

    And he's not all wrong. Most of these lions have one singular genetic sequence, if they were to disappear, there would no longer be a population with unique characteristics, of and only of this place, which cannot be found anywhere else on the globe.



    Germana Carillo

    Photo Credit

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