May 20, 2004
African Lions: Another shifting baseline story
Seems like "less than 10 percent of what they were 25 years ago" has become the common catch phrase for most high level predators. Certainly in the oceans. And here's the same thing for lions in Africa.
Although lions may once have been the world's most widespread terrestrial mammal species, experts recently estimated that as few as 22,600 African lions remain, 10 percent of their population just 25 years ago. Most of this decline can be attributed to conflicts with an expanding human population, specifically to depredations on livestock.
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