Extinction threatens African lions

Traditional hunting areas are being lost

By the BBC's Helen Sewell

A major international conservation group has warned that lions could soon become extinct in large parts of Africa.

The World Conservation Union says the lion populations of west and central Africa are too small to be viable.

Lions used to roam freely around much of the world.

They died out in Europe about 2,000 years ago and disappeared from northern Africa and most of south-west Asia 150 years ago.

Africa's largest carnivore is not generally considered an endangered species.

But as agriculture spreads through west and central Africa, lions are losing their habitat.

Space encroached

An article in the journal New Scientist explains how the animals need huge tracts of land in which to hunt.

Each male needs between 20 and 200 square kilometres to find food, but that sort of uncultivated space is disappearing rapidly.

Lions are also being killed off by poisoning and hunting, which is still legal in some countries.

Scientists say that in order to avoid inbreeding, which can lead to damaging genetic weaknesses, each lion population should contain at least 500 animals.

But the largest populations in west and central Africa have around 200 lions, and most have only about 50.

Lions are at the top of the food chain, and biologists have warned that if the big cats become extinct this could have a serious knock-on effect, with other species of animals coming under threat.