Environment
Lion ranges, populations dropping in Africa
Posted: Dec 4, 2012 12:30 PM by Lauren Molenburg
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - A new study says the lions that roam Africa's savannahs have lost as much as 75 percent of their habitat in less than 50 years.
Researchers at Duke University warn that the number of lions across the continent have dropped to as few as 32,000, with populations in West Africa under incredible pressure.
Fifty years ago, nearly 100,000 lions roamed across the African continent. In recent years, however, an ever-growing human population has come into the savannah lands to settle and develop. That has both cut down the amount of land lions have to roam, as well as fragmented it.
The study was published Tuesday by the journal Biodiversity and Conservation.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
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