To prevent lions from becoming as rare as tigers, large expanses of habitat must be carefully protected.
Many have died from diseases such as distemper, which is spread by domestic dogs from villages near natural habitat. Within these areas, lions still face dangers, including habitat loss, poisoning and hunting.
Today, following climatic changes and after centuries of hunting and habitat degradation by people, lions live primarily in scattered habitats across Africa - with the exception of the Gir Forest lions, which live in a national park in northwest India. More than 10,000 years ago, lions thrived from North and South America to Europe, Africa and Asia. Currently, an estimated 20,000 lions remain in the wild. Nomadic males must hunt alone or scavenge from other animals.ĭuring the past decade, lion populations have declined by about 30 percent. Depending on the prey item, several lions may stalk prey from different angles to within 100 feet (30 meters) before attacking the targeted animal. Females raise the cubs and are the primary hunters, although males will sometimes join females during a hunt. However, both males and females mark their territories by roaring - which can be heard up to five miles away - and scent marking with urine. Males take on most of the defensive duties. In India, female and male lions live apart, joining only to mate. Adult males that are fortunate enough to achieve residency within a pride hold tenure for an average of two years, often leaving due to eviction by another coalition of males. Males entering a new pride will kill all cubs that cannot run from them. They create coalitions, usually with brothers and cousins, and search for a pride to take over. Young males are driven from their prides when they grow large enough to compete with the dominant males (usually between the ages of 2 and 4). Pride mates associate in sub-groups within the pride.įemales usually stay in their mothers' prides for life, unless food scarcity forces them out. Abundance of prey availability plays a significant role in the size of a lion pride. They live in groups of related females, called prides, which may comprise several to as many as 40 individuals, including adults, sub-adults (between the ages of 2 and 4) and cubs, plus one or more resident males. Lions are the world's most social felines.
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