Southern African Lion

Panthera leo melanochaita

General Description

Scientific Name: Panthera leo melanochaita

Subspecies: 0 Subspecies

Status: Vulnerable (Decreasing)

Population Estimate: 23,000

Population in Assessed Areas: 21

Diet: Obligate Carnivore

Male Size: 150-313 Kgs

Female Size: 83-170 Kgs

Trophy Size: N/a

Generation Length: 6.98 years

Reproductive Season: Year Round

Time of Activity: Diurnal/semi-nocturnal

Description: Average head-to-body length of male lions is 2.47–2.84 m with a weight ranging from 150–225 kg averaging 187.5 kg in Southern Africa and 145.4–204.7 kg averaging 174.9 kg in East Africa. Females average 83–165 kg in Southern Africa and 90–167.8 kg in East Africa. Males in northern Kruger National Park weighed 200.01 kg on average, whereas females weighed 143.52 kg on average, and males in southern Kruger National Park weighed 186.55 kg on average and females weighed 118.37 kg, though there was an outbreak of tuberculosis in southern park at the time. Skeletal muscles make up 58.8% of the lion's body weight.

The largest known lion measured 3.35 m (11.0 ft) in length and weighed 375 kg. An exceptionally heavy male lion near Mount Kenya weighed 272 kg. The longest wild lion reportedly was a male shot near Mucusso National Park in southern Angola in 1973. In 1936, a man-eating lion shot in 1936 in eastern Transvaal weighed about 313 kg, and was considered to have been one of the heaviest wild lions. In 1963, two lions in Tanzania weighed 320 and 360 kg after killing several livestock.

Mane development is related to age, older males have more extensive manes than younger ones. Manes continue to grow up to the age of four to five years, long after lions become sexually mature. Males living in the Kenyan highlands above elevations of 800 m (2,600 ft) develop heavier manes than lions in the more humid and warmer lowlands of eastern and northern Kenya. The same occurs in South Africa, with the famed cape lion once having massive, dark manes, an adaptation for the cold mountainous climate. Average ambient temperature, nutrition and testosterone influence the colour and size of the mane. Its length is an indicator for age and fighting ability of the lion. In Serengeti National Park, female lions favor males with dense and dark manes as mates.

Ecology: The lion is a generalist hypercarnivore and is considered to be both an apex and keystone predator due to its wide prey spectrum. Its prey consists mainly of ungulates, particularly blue wildebeest, plains zebra, African buffalo, common warthog, gemsbok and giraffe. They usually avoid fully grown adult elephants, rhinoceroses and Hippos and small prey like dik-dik, hyraxes, hares and monkeys. Unusual prey include porcupines and small reptiles. Lions kill other predators but seldom consume them.

Young lions first display stalking behavior at around three months of age, although they do not participate in hunting until they are almost a year old and begin to hunt effectively when nearing the age of two. Single lions are capable of bringing down zebra and wildebeest, while larger prey like buffalo and giraffe are riskier. In Chobe National Park, large prides have been observed hunting African bush elephants up to around 15 years old in exceptional cases, with the victims being calves, juveniles, and even subadults. In typical hunts, each lioness has a favored position in the group, either stalking prey on the "wing", then attacking, or moving a smaller distance in the center of the group and capturing prey fleeing from other lionesses. Males attached to prides do not usually participate in group hunting. Some evidence suggests, however, that males are just as successful as females; they are typically solo hunters who ambush prey in small bushland. They may join in the hunting of large, slower-moving prey like buffalo; and even hunt them on their own. Moderately-sized hunting groups generally have higher success rates than lone females and larger groups.

Behavior: The lion is the most social of all wild felid species, living in groups of related individuals with their offspring. Such a group is called a "pride". Groups of male lions are called "coalitions". Females form the stable social unit in a pride and do not tolerate outside females. The majority of females remain in their birth prides while all males and some females will disperse. The average pride consists of around 15 lions, with several females and up to 4 males and their cubs.. Large prides, consisting of 30+ individuals, have been observed. The sole exception to this pattern is the Tsavo lion pride that always has just one adult male. Prides act as fission–fusion societies, and members will split into subgroups that keep in contact with roars.

The area occupied by a pride is called a "pride area", and the area occupied by a nomad is a "range". Both males and females defend the pride against intruders, but the male lion is better-suited to this due to its stockier, more powerful build. Some individuals consistently lead the defense against intruders, while others lag behind. The male or males associated with the pride must defend their relationship with the pride from outside males who may attempt to usurp them. Dominance hierarchies do not appear to exist among individuals of either sex in a pride.

Nomadic lions range widely and move around sporadically, in pairs or alone (commonly pairs amongst related males). A lion may switch lifestyles; nomads can become residents and vice versa. Interactions between prides and nomads tend to be hostile, although pride females in estrus allow nomadic males to approach them. Males spend years in a nomadic phase before gaining residence in a pride. A study undertaken in the Serengeti National Park revealed that nomadic coalitions gain residency at between 3.5 and 7.3 years of age. In Kruger National Park, dispersing male lions move more than 25 km (16 mi) away from their natal pride in search of their own territory. Female lions stay closer to their natal pride. Therefore, female lions in an area are more closely related to each other than male lions in the same area.

Predatory Competition: Lions and spotted hyenas occupy similar ecological niches and compete for prey and carrion, with a dietary overlap of 58.6%. Lions typically ignore hyenas unless they are on a kill or are being harassed, while the latter tend to visibly react to the presence of lions with or without the presence of food. In the Ngorongoro crater, lions subsist largely on kills stolen from hyenas, causing them to increase their kill rate. In Botswana's Chobe National Park, the situation is reversed as hyenas there frequently challenge lions and steal their kills, obtaining food from 63% of all lion kills. When confronted on a kill, hyenas may either leave or wait patiently at a distance of 30–100 m (98–328 ft) until the lions have finished. Hyenas may feed alongside lions and force them off a kill. The two species attack one another even when there is no food involved for no apparent reason. Lions can account for up to 71% of hyena deaths in Etosha National Park. Hyenas have adapted by frequently mobbing lions that enter their home ranges. When the lion population in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve declined, the spotted hyena population increased rapidly.

Lions tend to dominate cheetahs and leopards, steal their kills and kill their cubs and even adults when given the chance. Cheetahs often lose their kills to lions or other predators.A study in the Serengeti ecosystem revealed that lions killed at least 17 of 125 cheetah cubs born between 1987 and 1990. Cheetahs avoid their competitors by hunting at different times and habitats. Leopards, by contrast, do not appear to be motivated by an avoidance of lions, as they use heavy vegetation regardless of whether lions are present in an area and both cats are active around the same time of day. In addition, there is no evidence that lions effect leopard abundance. Leopards take refuge in trees, though lionesses occasionally attempt to climb up and retrieve their kills. Lions similarly dominate African wild dogs, taking their kills and dispatching pups or adult dogs. Population densities of wild dogs are low in areas where lions are more abundant. However, there are a few reported cases of old and wounded lions falling prey to wild dogs

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Reproduction: Most lionesses reproduce by the time they are four years of age. Lions do not mate at a specific time of year and the females are polyestrous. Like those of other cats, the male lion's penis has spines that point backward. During withdrawal of the penis, the spines rake the walls of the female's vagina, which may cause ovulation. A lioness may mate with more than one male when she is in heat. Lions of both sexes may be involved in group homosexual and courtship activities. Males will also head-rub and roll around with each other before mounting each other. Generation length of the lion is about seven years. The average gestation period is around 110 days; the female gives birth to a litter of between one and four cubs in a secluded den, which may be a thicket, a reed-bed, a cave, or some other sheltered area, usually away from the pride. She will often hunt alone while the cubs are still helpless, staying relatively close to the den. Lion cubs are born blind, their eyes opening around seven days after birth. They weigh 1.2–2.1 kg (2.6–4.6 lb) at birth and are almost helpless, beginning to crawl a day or two after birth and walking around three weeks of age. To avoid a buildup of scent attracting the attention of predators, the lioness moves her cubs to a new den site several times a month, carrying them one-by-one by the nape of the neck.

Conservation Analysis

Map of Panthera Leo Historical Distribution

Current & Historic range: Lions are the carnivores that have undergone the largest range contraction, with about 85% of Lion range lost since CE 1500. Outside sub-Saharan Africa, the Lion formerly ranged from North Africa through Southwest Asia (where it disappeared within the last 150 years), west into Europe (where it became extinct almost 2,000 years ago), and east into India. Today, the only remainder of this once widespread northern population is a single isolated subpopulation in the 1,400 km² Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary and the surrounding landscape in India. Lions are extinct in North Africa, having perhaps survived in the High Atlas Mountains up to the 1940s.

TodayAfrican lions live in scattered populations across sub-Saharan Africa. The lion prefers grassy plains and savannahs, scrub bordering rivers, and open woodlands with bushes. It rarely enters closed forests. On Mount Elgon, the lion has been recorded up to an elevation of 3,600 m (11,800 ft) and close to the snow line on Mount Kenya. Savannahs with an annual rainfall of 300 to 1,500 mm (12 to 59 in) make up the majority of lion habitat in Africa, estimated at 3,390,821 km2 (1,309,203 sq mi) at most, but remnant populations are also present in tropical moist forests in West Africa and montane forests in East Africa.

Current & Historic Populations: The estimate Lion population size in Africa is around 23,000 including subadult and adult lions . The largest proportion of Africa’s lions are found in Southern Africa 47.55%, with 46.54% in East Africa, 4.82% Central African and 1.07% in West Africa. Between 2006 and 2018, the Lion population in Africa was estimated to have declined by 25% over 12 years from 33,292 to 25,105. In this assessment we estimate a decline of 8% from ~25,105 in 2018 to ~23,000 in 2023. Although in the past decade, Lion populations seem to be increasing in many of their Southern African ranges.

Lion distribution was assessed using the Lion distribution map created and maintained by the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group’s African Lion Database (ALD). The ALD is used to provide a continually updated assessment of the abundance and distribution of lions in Africa. Based on the data in the ALD, regional maps were generated, and adjustments made based on feedback from country experts. Where new data were lacking, the 2015 Red List Assessment and the IUCN Cat Specialist Group’s Guidelines for the Conservation of lions in Africa (IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group 2018) were used as both have been through a peer-review process. Repeated observation data from areas previously considered as out-of-range were obtained. These areas do not necessarily indicate range expansion since the last assessment, but rather more accurate data. Such areas include: Luando area in Angola, the Mpem and Djem area in Cameroon (Bauer et al. 2019), the northern boundary of Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana (A. Loveridge pers. comm. 2022), additional wildlife management areas in the Okavango (A. Stein pers. comm. 2022; A. Albertson pers. comm. 2019), Southern National Park in South Sudan (M. Moeller pers. comm. 2022), Zeraf area in South Sudan, Erindi Private Game Reserve in Namibia; various hunting concessions in Mozambique, and Chad, and several game reserves in South Africa. However, some areas do reflect an increase in range due to the successful reintroductions of lions into fenced areas (e.g., fenced reserves in South Africa, Liwonde and Majete in Malawi, Akagera in Rwanda).

Threats to Species Survival: The main threats to lions include continued habitat loss and conversion of safe space. This has led to several subpopulations becoming small and isolated. Other significant threats include indiscriminate killing (primarily as retaliatory or pre-emptive killing to protect human life and livestock), and prey base depletion. In recent years the targeted poaching for parts and violent extremism/warfare have emerged as significant threats to the species. Furthermore, while trophy hunting has a net positive impact in some areas, it may, at times, contributed to local population declines in Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Cameroon and Zambia. In general, there seem to be an increasing number of lions poached through snaring and targeted poaching in many areas across the species range (e.g., the Greater Kruger, Zambeze Delta, Niassa Reserve, Waza National Park, and WAP complex.)

Its expected that climate change will have negative impacts on lions, but the extent of this impact is largely unknown. There is some evidence that lions in the Namib desert of Namibia have suffered due to a lack of prey, that's been cause by recent droughts. The lack of sufficient funding to support protected areas with lions poses a significant challenge to their successful conservation (Lindsey et al. 2018). It has been estimated that protected areas with lions require between $1,000 to $2,000/km² annually to be managed effectively, yet receive, on average, $200/km² annually

Recommended Conservation Actions:

Further resource and manage protected areas where lions still exits exist.
Increase the access to funding and the effectiveness of anti-poaching techniques across Southern Africa, to make lion protection as affordable as possible.
Encourage the implementation of economic incentives that allow landowners to profit off the presence of healthy Black Rhino populations, whether that be through hunting or ecotourism.
Investigate how trophy hunting can be implemented without having negative impacts on lion populations, and help implement this over a large part of their range.
Improve survey methods to get accurate population data, such as implementing long-term monitoring programs.

Economic & Cultural Analysis

Ecotourism Value: Extremely High

Hunting Value: Extremely High

Meat Value: Low - Moderate

Average Trophy Value: $5,000 - $25,000 USD

Meat Yield per Animal: 50-100 kg

Economic Value/Impacts: The African Lion presents considerable value to both the ecotourism and hunting industries across their range, as well as to rural and hunter-gatherer peoples that have likely hunted and lived alongside this species for thousands of years.

Lions, along with elephants, are one of the most iconic wildlife species on the African continent, with millions of tourists visiting the continent for that exact purpose. Because of this, the mere presence of Lions on a property can be a significant drawcard for ecotourism reserves, and are often one of the most sought after species on game drives. This value is realized across numerous game reserves in South Africa and Namibia, that take on the expenses of protecting them from the onslaught of poachers, because tourists are highly motivated to visit reserves with abundant populations of Lions. This has been a particularly attractive draw to visitors of the greater Kruger area, where reserves track the movement of particular prides, and encourage guests to follow along with the stories of individuals long after they've left.

Trophy hunting of lions have many economic benefits and drawbacks, depending on how it is implemented, and the overall land use practices on a particular landscape. When managed perfectly, lion hunting can generate significant revenue, while ensuring that the overall population either continues to grow, or is unaffected by hunting. There are instances where too many lions are taken off (or pride males are harvested, encouraging infanticide from the new males that take over the pride).

Cultural Value: Where ever lions have roams across their historical range, they have always been held in high regard, often being worshiped as a godlike deity, or intertwined into the fabric of mythology. This has occurred across Africa, the middle east, southern Asia, an large portions of Europe, and stayed an important part of several cultures for millennia after they disappear from a region. The symbol of an adult male lion with a proud mane is often shown to symbolize bravery, strength, loyalty, leadership and pride in ones nation.

Throughout all of human history, people have coexisted with lions over a large portion of the globe, but as agriculture spread across the globe, lions often came into direct conflict with our interests, and has resulted in their extermination from many parts of the world. Faunus aims to help restore some of these populations, especially in areas where they have been missing from ecosystems for hundreds, or even thousands of years.

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