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Current calculations estimate that there are somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 lions in the wild… but we’re not really sure. Even if we were totally sure in that interval, a 50% margin of error isn’t exactly trivial.
Counting lions isn’t easy by any means, but one researcher has an idea how to do it more accurately.
A lioness in the Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area. Lions often like to spend hot days in the shade of the parks’ giant fig trees. Image credits: Cody Pope.
There are 102 lion populations are scattered across approximately 2.5 million square kilometers of Africa. The majority of estimates on African lion population and density are based on track counts, audio lure surveys and expert solicitation hardly reliable enough to make accurate counts.