Today is World Lion Day, a day to celebrate and raise awareness about these majestic animals. Lions are beautiful animals and the plains of Africa would not be the same without them. But sadly, lions are vulnerable to extinction. The African Lion is classed as 'vulnerable' on the IUCN red list, this is one step away from being classed as an endangered animal.
There are two species of lion, the African lion and their less well-known cousin, the Asian lion. Asian lions are already critically endangered. According to the WWF, there are only 523 Asian Lions left in the wild. Their African cousins fair better, there are 20,000 African Lions left in the wild, which still makes these animals vulnerable to extinction.
Asian Lions
The Asian Lion looks slightly different to the African lion; they are smaller and have a smaller mane. Whereas, African lions are bigger and their mane is a distinguished feature of the beauty of the animals.
Asian Lions only live in the Gir National Park and Wildlife sanctuary in India. These big cats once thrived throughout India and Asia, sadly, they are now only confined to a small region of India. A similar story is shared with the African Lions.
African Lions
African Lions were once widespread throughout Africa, their habitat and range has shrunk considerably, through human activity. Habitat loss has been one of the main reasons why these animals have declined (and continue to decline), poaching is another reason why these animals are disappearing.
African Lion numbers have declined rapidly over the last 30 years. We have lost 40% of these animals in just that short time frame.
The Future Of Lions
The future for either species of the lion doesn't look good. The Asian Lion is almost extinct today. The African Lion will decline by half within the next 20 years. Within the next 40 years, lions will become extinct in the wild, if nothing is done to preserve them and current human trends remain.