Lions
Lions are dying off rapidly across Africa. These cats once ranged across the continent and into Syria, Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, and even northwest India; 2,000 years ago more than a million lions roamed the Earth. Since the 1940s, when lions numbered an estimated 450,000, lion populations have blinked out across the continent. Now they may total as few as 20,000 animals. Scientists connect the drastic decreases in many cases to burgeoning human populations. The Big Cats Initiative aims to halt lion population declines by the year 2015 and to restore populations to sustainable levels.
Photographs by Chris Johns & Mattias Klum
African Lion
An adult male lion rests in the African sun. Only adult males have manes, ruffs of long, thick hair. The bigger the mane, the more impressive a lion looks to other males.
Fiercely protective of their prides, or family units, male lions patrol a vast territory normally covering about 100 square miles (260 square kilometers).
African Lion Grooming
A male lion keeps his coat in fine shape with frequent grooming. Tawny coloring helps the big cat blend into the African grass.
African Lioness
Lionesses are in charge of hunting for the pride and work together to bring down fast-running herd animals like wildebeest, zebra, and antelope.
African Lioness On A Tree
A female African lion, rousted from a nap, snarls from a tree near the Zambezi River.
African Lioness With Cubs
Lion cubs stay with their mothers for up to three years, after which the female cubs remain with the pride while the males venture off to form their own prides.
A mother nuzzles her cub in the African grass. Cubs join the pride when they can move well enough to keep up—after about three months. At that time, several lionesses bring together their litters, usually born within a few weeks of each other.
Asian Lion, Gir Forest
One of fewer than 300 or so Asian lions left on Earth, this adult male in India's Gir Forest Reserve naps in the shade, away from the afternoon heat.
The Gir Forest's dry teak woods were once a royal Indian hunting ground. Today they are a reserve where the endangered Asian lions are heavily protected.
Asian Lion Cub
Once widespread across southern Asia and the Middle East, Asian lions are critically endangered. Like African lions, they live in prides, with a male leader, several females, and cubs.
Lion,Kenya
Photograph by John Eastcott and Yva Momatiuk
Lions are threatened throughout most of their African range. But nowhere is their condition as perilous as in Kenyan Maasailand, where this large male was photographed. Lions there, which number fewer than 150, are under imminent threat of extinction from Maasai herdsmen thought to be retaliating against prides who prey on their cattle.
Lioness And Cubs
Photograph by Beverly Joubert
Three female lions and a pair of cubs rest in the grass in Botswana's Okavango Delta. Females remain with a pride for life and often have to defend their cubs from males, who will kill young lions when taking over another male's territory.
Male Lions,Botswana
Photograph by Beverly Joubert
Two young male lions lie in the grass of Botswana's Okavango Delta. A pride of lions may be headed by a single male or a coalition of up to seven males who cooperatively defend the group's territory.
Photograph by Beverly Joubert
An adult male lion walks through grasslands in Botswana's Okavango Delta. Biologists think males evolved their impressive manes in part to provide neck protection during fights, among other reasons.
Lioness,Botswana
Photograph by Beverly Joubert
A female lion in Botswana's Okavango Delta stretches as other members of the pride lounge nearby. Pride size can range from 2 to 18 females and cubs, all related to one another.
-National Geographic-
shooi neda
Lions are dying off rapidly across Africa. These cats once ranged across the continent and into Syria, Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, and even northwest India; 2,000 years ago more than a million lions roamed the Earth. Since the 1940s, when lions numbered an estimated 450,000, lion populations have blinked out across the continent. Now they may total as few as 20,000 animals. Scientists connect the drastic decreases in many cases to burgeoning human populations. The Big Cats Initiative aims to halt lion population declines by the year 2015 and to restore populations to sustainable levels.
Photographs by Chris Johns & Mattias Klum
African Lion
An adult male lion rests in the African sun. Only adult males have manes, ruffs of long, thick hair. The bigger the mane, the more impressive a lion looks to other males.
Fiercely protective of their prides, or family units, male lions patrol a vast territory normally covering about 100 square miles (260 square kilometers).
African Lion Grooming
A male lion keeps his coat in fine shape with frequent grooming. Tawny coloring helps the big cat blend into the African grass.
African Lioness
Lionesses are in charge of hunting for the pride and work together to bring down fast-running herd animals like wildebeest, zebra, and antelope.
African Lioness On A Tree
A female African lion, rousted from a nap, snarls from a tree near the Zambezi River.
African Lioness With Cubs
Lion cubs stay with their mothers for up to three years, after which the female cubs remain with the pride while the males venture off to form their own prides.
A mother nuzzles her cub in the African grass. Cubs join the pride when they can move well enough to keep up—after about three months. At that time, several lionesses bring together their litters, usually born within a few weeks of each other.
Asian Lion, Gir Forest
One of fewer than 300 or so Asian lions left on Earth, this adult male in India's Gir Forest Reserve naps in the shade, away from the afternoon heat.
The Gir Forest's dry teak woods were once a royal Indian hunting ground. Today they are a reserve where the endangered Asian lions are heavily protected.
Asian Lion Cub
Once widespread across southern Asia and the Middle East, Asian lions are critically endangered. Like African lions, they live in prides, with a male leader, several females, and cubs.
Lion,Kenya
Photograph by John Eastcott and Yva Momatiuk
Lions are threatened throughout most of their African range. But nowhere is their condition as perilous as in Kenyan Maasailand, where this large male was photographed. Lions there, which number fewer than 150, are under imminent threat of extinction from Maasai herdsmen thought to be retaliating against prides who prey on their cattle.
Lioness And Cubs
Photograph by Beverly Joubert
Three female lions and a pair of cubs rest in the grass in Botswana's Okavango Delta. Females remain with a pride for life and often have to defend their cubs from males, who will kill young lions when taking over another male's territory.
Male Lions,Botswana
Photograph by Beverly Joubert
Two young male lions lie in the grass of Botswana's Okavango Delta. A pride of lions may be headed by a single male or a coalition of up to seven males who cooperatively defend the group's territory.
Photograph by Beverly Joubert
An adult male lion walks through grasslands in Botswana's Okavango Delta. Biologists think males evolved their impressive manes in part to provide neck protection during fights, among other reasons.
Lioness,Botswana
Photograph by Beverly Joubert
A female lion in Botswana's Okavango Delta stretches as other members of the pride lounge nearby. Pride size can range from 2 to 18 females and cubs, all related to one another.
-National Geographic-
shooi neda 
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