The Northern lion (Panthera leo leo) is a lion subspecies, which is present in West Africa, northern Central Africa and India. In West and Central Africa, it is restricted to fragmented and isolated populations with a declining trajectory. The Northern lion is regionally extinct in North Africa, southern Europe, and West Asia.
The Northern lion's fur varies in color from light buff to dark brown. It has rounded ears and a black tail tuft. Females are smaller and less heavy. In general, the West African lion is similar in general appearance and size to lions in other parts of Africa and Asia.
Today Northern lions occur only in West and Central Africa and in India. The last populations of the West African lion clade are surviving in a few protected areas from Senegal in the west to Nigeria in the east. The Central African lion population inhabits protected areas of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, northern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan's Southern Darfur province, South Sudan and Ethiopia. Asian/North African lion clade is nowadays confined in the wild to Gujarat in India. Northern lions prefer to live in dry forests, savannahs, and shrublands. In northern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they permanently inhabit rainforests and clearings in rainforest mixed with savannah grassland. In India, lions can be found in the hill systems of Gir and Girnar that comprise Gujarat's largest tracts of dry deciduous forest, thorny forest, and savanna.
Male lions of Asian/North African clade are solitary or associate with up to three males forming a loose pride. Pairs of males rest, hunt and feed together, and mark territories at the same sites. Females associate with up to 12 females forming a stronger pride together with their cubs. They share large carcasses among each other, but seldom with males. Female and male lions usually associate only for a few days when mating, but rarely travel and feed together. In general, African lions are highly social animals, gathering in groups or prides, which include up to 3 male lions and multiple lionesses with their young. Prides are defended by males, who patrol and mark the territory. However, there's harsh competition between males for the territory and position in the pride. In a case, if another male overcomes the leading male of the pride, he usually kills all cubs, sired by the previous male. Meanwhile, males do not tend to hunt due to their slow speed and eye-catching appearance. Instead, hunting is left to females of the pride, who hunt in groups, cooperating with each other during their hunting trips. The females are excellent hunters: they are faster and more agile than males, able to hunt down animals that are much bigger and faster than them. Lions can be active at any time of the day but their activity generally peaks after dusk with a period of socializing and grooming. Most hunting often takes place at dusk. Apart from that lions spend much of their time resting. They rest in order to save energy, in the absence of prey, or to escape the midday heat. Lions have a large repertoire of vocalizations. Most of them are variations of growling, snarling, meowing, and roaring. Other sounds produced include purring, puffing, bleating, and humming. Roaring is used for advertising their presence. Lions most often roar at night, a sound that can be heard from a distance of 8 km (5 mi).
Northern lions are carnivores and prefer large prey species within a weight range of 190-550 kg (420-1,210 lb). They hunt large ungulates including gemsbok, Cape buffalo, Blue wildebeest, giraffe, Common eland, Greater kudu, nyala, Roan antelope, Sable antelope, zebra, bushpig, Common warthog, hartebeest, Common tsessebe, Thomson's gazelle, waterbuck, and kob. In India's Gir Forest National Park, lions predominantly kill chital, Sambar deer, nilgai, cattle, domestic buffalo, and less frequently also Wild boar. Outside the protected area where wild prey species do not occur, lions prey on buffalo and cattle, rarely also on the Arabian camel. They kill most prey less than 100 m (330 ft) away from water bodies, charge prey from close range and drag carcasses into dense cover.
Little is known about the reproductive behavior of Northern lions. In general, lions have a polygynous mating system, in which one male can mate with a number of females. They breed throughout the year with the peak period, occurring during the rainy season. The gestation period lasts from 110 to 119 days, yielding 3-6 cubs on average. The female gives birth in a hidden, solitary nursery. Reaching the age of 4-6 weeks, the cubs join the pride. Usually, all females of the pride feed and care for the young; when a mother female leaves the pride to hunt, another lactating female will feed her cubs. Weaning occurs at the age of 6-7 months, though the cubs typically stay close to their mother during the first two years of their lives. Males become reproductively mature at 5 years old while females reach maturity earlier, at 2.5-3 years of age.
In Africa, lions are killed pre-emptively or in retaliation for preying on livestock. They are also threatened by the depletion of prey base, loss, and conversion of habitat. The lion population in West Africa is threatened by poaching and the illegal trade of body parts. Lion body parts from Benin are smuggled to Niger, Nigeria, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Guinea, and from Burkina Faso to Benin, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Guinea. In Nigeria, the isolated lion population in Gashaka Gumti National Park is hunted and poisoned by local people. The lion population in Central Africa is threatened by loss of habitat and prey base and trophy hunting. Local people living in the vicinity of the protected area accounted in interviews that lions frequently attack livestock during the dry season. They use poison on carcasses to kill carnivores. Nomadic herders use bows and arrows poisoned with cobra venom to kill lions in retaliation for attacks on livestock. In northern parts of Cameroon, increased migration of people from Nigeria following the political insecurity in the region posed a threat to the area's lion population. Poaching of lions by paramilitary forces has been reported by local people living in the vicinity of Ethiopia's Gambella National Park. Local people around Chebera Churchura National Park kill lions, leopards, and Spotted hyenas using traps to retaliate against attacks on their livestock.
According to IUCN Red List, the total population size of the Northern lion is estimated to be 439 individuals in West and Central Africa, and 485 individuals in India. As a whole, the lion species is classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List, and its numbers today are decreasing. According to a Wikipedia resource, the West African lion population is geographically isolated and consists of fewer than 250 mature individuals. It is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List.
Lions are an irreplaceable link in the ecosystem of their range. Feeding upon herbivorous animals such as zebras or buffaloes, they control the numbers of these species populations. Otherwise, these herbivores could out-compete other animals of their range, leading to the complete extinction of these species and thus destructing the biodiversity of the ecosystem.
