CONSERVATION STATUS
Lions (Panthera leo) are one of the world’s most iconic species, but they are in trouble. Lions have disappeared from over 90% of their historic range, with only about 24,000 wild lions remaining. Around half the surviving lion populations have less than 50 animals, and only six places in the world still have at least 1,000 lions. Lion numbers are declining fast, nearly halving in just the past two decades.
Lions and other large carnivores are particularly threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, reduction of wild prey, persecution in retaliation for killing livestock plus illegal hunting and poaching. Common challenges in carnivore conservation include insufficient collaboration between key stakeholders, a lack of accurate data and well informed decision making, and the use of unsustainable conservation models.
As apex predators, lions are hugely important to the health and species composition of their ecosystems. Well managed lion conservation can also bring direct economic benefits to the people living alongside them through wildlife tourism revenue.
WILDCRU APPROACH
WildCRU researchers have worked with partners to survey lion populations in 14 African countries, produced the most up-to-date maps of lion presence, helped decision-makers understand specific threats and trained hundreds of students from lion range countries in conservation research. Our work has provided invaluable insights into habitat loss, the lion bone trade, conflict with people, poaching and unsustainable hunting. It is informing current and future national, regional and international conservation plans. For example in Zimbabwe’s Hwange ecosystem, hunting policies have been adjusted to make make it’s impact more sustainable.
Lion conservation is inextricably connected with the wellbeing of people living closest to them. WildCRU has developed long-standing relationships with local communities, co-developing novel approaches to reduce human-lion conflict and conservation initiatives that address both human and wildlife needs.
LION RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION IMPACT HIGHLIGHTS
WildCRU research contributed to the IUCN lion assessment published in February 2023. The species’ range has decreased ~36% over three generations
Lion Landscapes deployed GPS collars on 15 lions in Kenya and 4 lions in Tanzania. Location data will warn livestock owners when prides are nearby to reduce human-lion conflict
Long Shields Lion Guardian Programme featured as an IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence case study showing how research and community-based conservation benefit wildlife and people
WildCRU Diploma student Patricia Kayula’s research on spatial responses of lions to water sources and protection effort in Kafue National Park is informing her work with Panthera in Zambia.
5 WildCRU programmes currently work on lion research and conservation:
4 WildCRU projects currently involve research on lions:
Key WildCRU publications relating to lions:
Camera trapping and spatially explicit capture–recapture for the monitoring and conservation management of lions: Insights from a globally important population in Tanzania
Community knowledge on factors behind extirpation of lion Panthera leo in Comoé National Park, Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa)
Community perspectives on the prospect of lion (Panthera leo) reintroduction to Comoé National Park, Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa)
Evaluating connectivity models for conservation: insights from African lion dispersal patterns
Socio-political and ecological fragility of threatened, free-ranging African lion populations
Towards effective and harmonized lion survey methodologies: a systematic review of practice across Africa
Where have all the lions gone? Establishing realistic baselines to assess decline and recovery of African lions
Camera trapping and spatially explicit capture–recapture for the monitoring and conservation management of lions: Insights from a globally important population in Tanzania
Community knowledge on factors behind extirpation of lion Panthera leo in Comoé National Park, Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa)
A rise in human disturbance in Comoé National Park (CNP) has led to lion (Panthera
leo) extirpation. After the crisis, there have been numerous efforts to restore this ecosystem and CNP’s management authority is considering reintroducing lions. This ideally requires an understanding of the earlier process of lion extirpation. We assessed
the causes of lion extirpation through semi-structured questionnaires to 307 volunteer participants in surrounding 23 villages. Respondents reported that lions were extirpated two decades ago (19.75 years ± 8.15). Bouna was the sector that lions seem to
have disappeared first (mean = 23.61 years ± 9.14) and recently on Nassian and Téhini
sectors (mean = 18.43 years ± 8.17 and 18.74 years ± 6.74 respectively). People identified civil war from 2002 as the main facilitator of lion extirpation (85%; n= 261), which
led to the abandonment of CNP, and opened the way for all forms of anthropogenic
pressures including illegal hunting and prey depletion (70%; n= 216), illegal gold mining (74%; n= 227), direct lion killing due to transhumance and human-wildlife conflict
(15%; n= 45), and wildfires (23%; n= 72). Historically, prey density curves show a progressive decrease with a drastic drop during the civil war period before a post-crisis
recovery from 2016 to 2022. We recommend intensifying CNP monitoring and local
measures to limit anthropogenic disturbances and improve indigenous communities’
involvement to ensure the success of potential lion reintroduction.
Community perspectives on the prospect of lion (Panthera leo) reintroduction to Comoé National Park, Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa)
The civil war in Côte d’Ivoire led to a hike in human disturbances and the extirpation of African lion Panthera leo from the Comoé National Park (CNP). After the war, many efforts have been made to restore this ecosystem and management is considering the reintroduction of lions. In a participatory management with people at the center of conservation, there is a need to discuss with communities the initiatives affecting their livelihoods. We assessed the acceptance of lion reintroduction by the local communities; through semi-structured questionnaires to 307 volunteer participants in surrounding 23 villages. Most respondents had knowledge of lions from CNP (93%, n = 286). A generalized linear model (GLM) revealed that sex, profession, perceived benefits and risks, and an appreciation of the current management system are the main significant determinants for the acceptance of lion reintroduction in CNP. A large majority (73%, n = 223) were in favor of the lion reintroduction with significant variance among socio-professional categories. The majority of respondents (81%, n = 250) acknowledged having coexisted with lions, with previous lion conflicts reported by 20% (n = 61), and a willingness to coexist in future by 74% (n = 227). More than 84% (n = 260) believed that there would be benefits associated with lion reintroduction to CNP and 53% (n = 162) believed that the potential benefits would be greater than the possible risks associated with lions. Most respondents (88%; n = 270) confirmed the possibility of taking precautions to prevent future lion attacks. While only 42% (n = 129) of respondents felt that current management was participatory, most of them felt that it was acceptable (83%; n = 254). Our data shows a large degree of lion support, positive perceptions and willingness to coexist with lion in future. These results form part of a fundamental step in the direction for ethical reintroduction, as described by the IUCN reintroduction specialist group. We recommend the improvement of the involvement of indigenous communities in potential reintroduction of lions, especially the pastoralists, and the sharing of any associated benefits.
Evaluating connectivity models for conservation: insights from African lion dispersal patterns
Socio-political and ecological fragility of threatened, free-ranging African lion populations
Lions are one of the world’s most iconic species but are threatened with extinction. Developing effective range-wide conservation plans are crucial but hampered by the relative lack of knowledge on specific threats facing each population and the socio-political context for conservation. Here, we present a range-wide examination of the relative fragility of lion populations, examining socio-political factors alongside ecological ones. We found Ethiopia’s Maze National Park had the most ecologically fragile geographic population while Kavango-Zambezi was the least. At a country level, lion populations had highest ecological fragility in Cameroon and Malawi. When we examined socio-political fragility, Somalia was the most fragile lion range country, followed by South Sudan. When socio-political and ecological fragility were combined, lion populations in Maze National Park and Bush-Bush (Somalia) and more broadly, Somalian and Malawian lion populations were the most fragile. These insights should help inform more nuanced and appropriately targeted lion conservation plans.
Towards effective and harmonized lion survey methodologies: a systematic review of practice across Africa
Understanding the population status of a species is vital for their conservation. Over the last two decades, multiple methods for surveying lion (Panthera leo) populations have been designed and tested. Each have strengths and weaknesses, with different applications, and varying levels of reliability, accuracy and precision. We conducted a PRISMA systematic review to identify and assess survey methods for estimating lion population abundance. We searched the Web of Science and Google Scholar for peer reviewed papers between January 1991 and December 2022. Sixty-five papers were included, with some using multiple methods or multiple study sites; when these were separated, 93 studies were identified. Seven broad population survey methods for lions were identified: call ups (34.8% of studies), spoor counts (32.5%), direct observations (15.7%), direct observations with capture recapture elements (12.4%), camera trap-based capture-recapture analysis (4.5%), genetic surveys (3%) and distance-based surveys (1.1%). Our literature review suggests that the most reliable methods for determining lion density or abundance are direct observations and camera trap-based capture recapture surveys. Genetic surveys combined with spatially-explicit capture recapture analysis also hold significant potential. Due to their lack of reliability and tendency to over-estimate populations, call ups and spoor counts are not recommended for determining population abundance. We further recommend that harmonized methods be developed that can produce comparable and reliable estimates, which can be used to inform conservation decisions across the species range.