Research overview: lion range contraction driven by conflict and prey loss

This overview synthesises continental assessments of African lion decline, emphasising conflict-related mortality, prey depletion, and habitat loss as principal drivers. It reviews evidence that retaliatory killing, indiscriminate poisoning, snaring, and the bushmeat trade's erosion of wild prey have shrunk lion range to a fraction of its historical extent, fragmenting populations into isolated strongholds. The literature distinguishes between relatively secure fenced reserves and unfenced systems where conflict mortality dominates. The survey connects local depredation dynamics to range-wide population trends, arguing that mitigating human-lion conflict at the rangeland scale is central to reversing decline, and highlights data gaps in West and Central Africa.