Why Care?

The Panthera leo has been listed as VULNERABLE on the IUCN Red List since 1996. For a species to be added to the "list," there has to have been one of the following significant listing factors: a distinct reduction in population size, increased habit loss, the population is less than 10,000 mature individuals and is looking to continually decline, the population has become very fragmented, or if quantitative probability of extinction is greater than 10% over the next 100 years (11).  Lions are a key part of the ecosystem because they act as an indicator species, a flagship species, and are a vital part of the food web (1).  An indicator species is one that can be used to gauge the condition of ecological systems, and flagship species are of special intrinsic value to humans (9). Lions may be considered a flagship species from involvement with popular culture, like The Lion King, or just by the brave nature they are known to convey.  Even though lions are greatly valued in society, they are an animal who is facing many threats including: habitat loss, disease, poaching, and climate change.