With fewer than 250 mature lions of breeding age, there are concerns the entire population could disappear.

 

The research by Panthera, a non-profit organisation², was carried out in 17 countries, from Senegal to Nigeria, and took more than six years.

 

West African lions are genetically³ distinct from others in Africa.

 

In 2005, West African lions were believed to live in 21 different protected areas. But the survey, published in the scientific journal PLOS One, suggests lions now exist in just four of those sites.

 

The report says lions now roam in just 1.1% of their historic range in West Africa. The majority of their habitat has been converted for agricultural use, says Philipp Henschel, co-author of the report.

 

Panthera is calling for the lion to be listed as critically endangered in West Africa.

 

"Our results came as a complete shock; all but a few of the areas we surveyed were basically paper parks, having neither management budgets nor patrol staff, and had lost all their lions and other iconic large mammals," Mr Henschel told the BBC's Sivaramakrishnan Parameswaran.

 

The conservation of lions in West Africa have been largely neglected, whereas in eastern and southern Africa where millions of dollars a year are spent, he said.

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