Species profile
Panthera leo
Lion
This is a curated published estimate, not a live census. Estimates may refer to mature individuals, wild individuals or a documented range and are not directly comparable between species.
VU · Vulnerable — Vulnerable — high risk of extinction in the wild
About this species
The lion is Africa’s most social wild cat, living in groups whose composition changes as animals mature, disperse or compete for territory. Lions remain widespread compared with many threatened carnivores, yet their occupied range is now fragmented and much smaller than it was historically. Their presence often signals landscapes capable of supporting abundant prey and large connected territories.
Habitat, behaviour and ecological role
Prides usually contain related females, their young and one or more adult males. Lions hunt a range of medium and large mammals, sometimes cooperatively, and also scavenge. As apex predators they influence prey behaviour and carcass availability. Young males disperse over long distances, making safe connections between protected areas important for both survival and genetic exchange.
Why this species is at risk
Loss and fragmentation of habitat reduce prey and bring lions into closer contact with livestock. Retaliatory killing, poorly controlled hunting and wire snares are important regional pressures. Climate and disease can intensify losses in already small populations. Conditions vary greatly: a well-protected reserve and an unprotected pastoral boundary can be only a short distance apart.
Conservation outlook
Successful coexistence measures include stronger livestock enclosures, herding practices, rapid compensation and local benefits from wildlife. Protected-area management must also maintain prey and movement corridors. Monitoring should distinguish stable strongholds from isolated populations, because preserving only a few famous reserves would leave much of the species’ ecological and genetic diversity exposed.
Editorial review: 2026-08-21
Threat factors
Known occurrences
Dots are georeferenced occurrence records from OBIS (marine) and GBIF (global), not individual animals and not a complete range map. Up to 500 recent API results are cached; the profile renders at most 500 points.
Loading occurrences…
Listen to this species
Kafue National Park · 1:18 · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/