--- title: West African Lions Are Almost Exctinct description: Only 400 left canonical: https://time.com/3245/lions-are-almost-extinct-in-west-africa/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-01-14T16:57:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:16:18.956Z article:section: Science og:title: West African Lions Are Almost Exctinct og:description: Only 400 left og:url: https://time.com/3245/lions-are-almost-extinct-in-west-africa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: West African Lions Are Almost Exctinct twitter:description: Only 400 left twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Lions Are Almost Extinct In West Africa  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 14, 2014 4:57 PM UTC  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 14, 2014 4:57 PM UTC Researchers have found only 400 lions in West Africa and only 250 of those are of mature mating age, raising alarm that the West African lion may soon go extinct. Panthera, a non-profit research organization, spent six years tracking lions in 17 West African countries, from Senegal to Nigeria, BBC [reports.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25722058) In 2005, West African lions were spotted in 21 different sites, but the Panthera survey suggests that lions now live in only four of those areas. According to the report published in PLOS One, West African lions now roam only 1.1% of their natural range. Panthera is calling for West African lions to be listed as critically endangered, since they have a unique genetic makeup not found in other lions living in captivity. Most of the parks surveyed by Panthera were “paper parks,” with no budget or staff to actually patrol the grounds and protect the wildlife. Most of the West African countries in question lack the funds for serious conservation efforts, BBC reports. “We are talking about some of the poorest counties in the world—many governments have bigger problems than protecting lions,” said Philipp Henschel, co-author of the report. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25722058)\] West African Lions Are Almost Exctinct ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3245/lions-are-almost-extinct-in-west-africa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3245/lions-are-almost-extinct-in-west-africa/"},"headline":"Lions Are Almost Extinct In West Africa","datePublished":"2014-01-14T16:57:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:16:18.956Z","description":"Only 400 left","url":"https://time.com/3245/lions-are-almost-extinct-in-west-africa/","keywords":["endangered species","Conservation","Extinction"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3245/lions-are-almost-extinct-in-west-africa/","name":"Lions Are Almost Extinct In West Africa"}}]}] ```