The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the big cats in the genus Panthera and

The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the big cats in the genus Panthera and a member of the family Felidae. The commonly used term African lioncollectively denotes the several subspecies found in Africa. With some males exceeding 250 kg (550 lb) in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. Wild lions currently exist in sub-Saharan Africaand in Asia (where an endangered remnant population resides in Gir Forest National Park in India) while other types of lions have disappeared from North Africa and Southwest Asia in historic times. Until the latePleistocene, about 10,000 years ago, the lion was the most widespread large land mammal after humans. In historic times, since 480 BC, their range was in most of Africa and across Eurasia from eastern Europe to India. In the late Pleistocene, a subspecies (Panthera leo spelaea) lived in northern and western Europe, and a closely related species, Panthera atrox, lived in the Americas from the Yukon to Peru. The lion is avulnerable species, having seen a major population decline in its African range of 30–50% per two decades during the second half of the twentieth century. Lion populations are untenable outside designated reserves and national parks. Although the cause of the decline is not fully understood, habitat loss and conflicts with humans are currently the greatest causes of concern. Within Africa, the West African lionpopulation is particularly endangered.

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