Today is World Lion Day! š§”š¦
Happy World Lion Day! š¦
World Lion Day happens on the 10th of August every year.
It is a great day to raise awareness about these magestic and wonderful big cats.
Male and female lions are distinct, and are easily recognisable due to the differences in their appearance- male lions have a mane on their head, female lions don't have this mane.
There are two different types of lions that exist in the world today - African lions and Asian lions. The Asian lion is known as the Asiatic lion and sadly, they only exist in small areas of India, they once were found in a much wider area that include Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and more.
Sadly, the geographic range of the lion has decreased immensely -
Lions were once found throughout Africa and the Middle East; evidence even suggests that they were found in Europe.
World Lion Day is also a day to help raise awareness about lions - their decline and the challenges they face in the modern world.
The lion population has declined so much that it is estimated that there are only between 23,000 and 39,000 left in the wild, some estimates even have their population as low as 20,000, which shows how very small their population is today.
With their small population, it mean that lions are vulnerable to extinction.
Lions are also at risk of extinction due to the threats that they face from humans such as - a destruction of their habitat for things like housing, expanding urban areas and logging, and they also are at risk from being hunted by humans.
We risk losing the king of the jungle in our lifetimes -
. Lions have disappeared from 90% of their historic range
. The lion population has decreased by 42% in just 42 years
. The lion population has decreased significantly in just over 100 years, as there was between 500,000 to 600,000 lions at the turn of the 20th century, today there is at most 39,000 lions, which shows how massive the decline in lions has been.
Asiatic lions are especially vulnerable to extinction, as it is estimated that there are only 523 Asiatic lions left in the world, this makes these unique big cats one of the rarest animals in the world today.
World Lion Day helps us to raise awareness about the low population of these cats, the threats that they face (habitat destruction and being hunted, etc), and gives us a reminder that to save these cats from extinction we need to preserve their habitat and protect them in the wild.
We still have time to save lions from extinction, a world without lions would be a poor world, these amazing big cats deserve to live in the world alongside us, it is their home too.
Happy World Lion Day! š§”š¦
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