Africa's Lion Population Plummets

[BSB]

Africa's lion population plummets by two thirds in 50 years, study finds


By Miguel Llanos, NBC News
Africa's lions are running out of habitat and some populations, especially those in West Africa, are running toward extinction, according to a study published Tuesday.

Using new satellite data, a research team at Duke University found that about 75 percent of Africa's savannahs were fragmented by farmers and other development in the last 50 years.



"Only 25 percent remains of an ecosystem that once was a third larger than the continental United States," co-author Stuart Pimm, a Duke conservation ecology professor, said in a statement issued with the study.

"The situation in West Africa is particularly dire," the experts wrote, noting that human populations have doubled there over the last three decades. Fewer than 500 lions remain in West Africa, the study estimated.

The team and a panel of lion experts used the savannah data to refine estimates of lion populations, which had ranged between 20,000 and 40,000 across Africa. Their estimate: 32,000 lions remain, down from an estimated 100,000 in 1960.


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"Given that many now live in small, isolated populations, this trend will continue," the experts wrote in the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Biodiversity and Conservation.

"Lions are not going to go extinct, but they are indeed going extinct locally," Pimm told NBC News. "Those in West Africa are in particularly bad shape. It would be tragic if one could see lions only in a couple of places in Africa."

The study estimates that more than 6,000 lions are in populations that have "a very high risk of local extinction."

Only nine African countries have at least 1,000 lions, and five have likely lost all their lions since a 2002 study, the experts said. The biggest stronghold is in Tanzania, which has more than 40 percent of all African lions as well as a strong conservation program.

National Geographic, which funded the study, hopes to use the results to plan where to focus on saving lions.

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[Plane]

  Do the people who live near the Lions benefit from the lions?

   I think tourism can be a bigger income sorce and healthy lions can be good for tourists .

   But the local people might decide thay would rather have cattle.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Cattle are a better investment than tourists visiting to see lions. The cattle can produce milk and meat directly for the locals. the lions might attract people willing to spend $200 a day to stay in some fancy lodge,but the locals are unlikely to see much of the money. One lion could do in a whole herd of cattle in a year or so.

I am all for the lions not losing their habitat. There used to be lions in Europe and the Middle East as well, hence all the lions on national coats of arms and such. The eradication of tse tse flies and other diseases has made it more possible to settle in parts of Africa where people once did not live.  The eradication of diseases like smallpox and cholera has meant that the population has grown a lot recently. To have a healthy lion population, there needs to be a smaller human population. The same situation exists in the US between mountain lions/ cougars/pumas and people.

[BSB]

Well it certainly isn't the villagers fault that Lion habitat is being swallowed up. Nor is it the Lions fault that they like eating cattle.  Every inhabitant on the planet probably competes in some way with other inhabitants for resources. However, personally I'd rather live on a planet with more Lions and less people. I find Lions more interesting plus they can scare the shit out of you, and believe it or not that's a plus. Being forced to stay on your toes is a positive. Life would be boring if you could sleep walk your way through it and we're getting there with cars that can drive themselves and all the other technology just around the corner. 


I saw autopsies of a Lion and a Tiger on PBS. What a couple magnificent creatures they are. Killing machines.


BSB

[Plane]

It isn't only the local farmers and miners, the citys in the same country have to make good decisions.

The people will be fed , or they will make trouble , so the government may place high priority on preseration of the natural environment , but the imperitive priority will always be the people.

For the lions and elephants to survive , this must be reconciled.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I am all for people staying alert, but I do not favor having wild hungry lions around to accomplish this.

It is not the lions' fault that they eat cattle, nor the African farmers' fault that they need land formerly inhabited by lions. It is almost certain that there will be fewer lions in the future. Housecats have mastered how to live with humans. Perhaps if we could breed much smaller, cuter, nicer smelling lions and make good pets of them.

[BSB]

>>For the lions and elephants to survive , this must be reconciled<<

Maybe, maybe not. Anything could happen either to mankind or the African wildlife or both. We could all be killed by black helicopters from the UN. Or Jim Dimwit might become Emperor of the world and order all his followers to commit suicide. You just never know.

BSB

[Xavier_Onassis]

A teensy, tame lion might be a decent pet.

A teensy elephant would be more problematical. I would not want them.

Glow in the dark goldfish would be far more awesome.

[BSB]

"A teensy, tame lion might be a decent pet"

It wouldn't be a Lion then would it.

BSB

[Xavier_Onassis]

It would be a cute, teensy lion, that would roar for Meow Mix in a cute, teensy roar.

Normal lions make poor pets. The future of felinity is clearly with the animal companion track.

I would like a mini-jaguar or perhaps a micro cheetah.