Scientific Name: Panthera leo.

Status: Vulnerable.

Habitat: Grasslands & Plains.

Population: 20,000.

Life Span: 15-30 Years.

Length: 6-10 ft.

Weight: 330-500 lb

 

This series ‘Extinction’ demonstrates that the animals are incapable of surviving without the critical body part(s) they are killed for.  The African Lion is now being killed as a substitute for tigers. Because of this, the lion population has decreased by two-thirds in the last fifty years. Their bones are used in Chinese medicine, and their meat found in restaurants. A full lion skeleton can be worth $10,000 on the black market. Experts say that the West African Lion has a unique genetic makeup, not found even in lions held in captivity. Recent evidence shows that only 250 lions are left in West Africa today. To lose such a species would be the death of this recently discovered genetic sequence.