World Lion Day, 10th August, 2021
What are you greedy humans doing to our precious planet?
You slaughter my brothers and sisters for fun,
you take away our habitat,
you plunder the earth
and you heat it up with your selfish waste of energy from fossil fuels.
When are you gonna stop all this madness?
Lions – with the scientific name Panthera leo – are the second-largest cat in the world, just behind the Asian tiger. These immense creatures, weighing between 300 and 550 pounds, have sparked the popular imagination for centuries, inspiring awe through their speed and muscular power.
Three million years ago, lions roamed all over Africa and the Eurasian supercontinent. But today, various ice ages and changes in the natural environment means that their range is reduced primarily to Africa and select parts of Asia.
According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, lions are a “vulnerable” species, meaning that their numbers could and should be higher. Currently, researchers estimate that there are between 16,000 and 30,000 lions left on planet Earth. Without significant intervention, there is a chance that they could find themselves on the endangered list alongside other species most at risk of extinction.
World Lion Day, therefore, is an opportunity for lion lovers all over the planet to push back against the decline in the range and habitat of the king of beasts. These giant animals are among the world’s largest land species and an apex predator with a reputation like no other. It would be a tragic loss for both nature and humanity if the species were to disappear entirely from the natural environment.
The threats against lions, however, are all too real. They face the dual specters of increasingly popular “trophy hunting” and human incursion on their traditional wildlands. A reduction in food combined with hunting tourism is making them more vulnerable with every passing year. Over the last four decades, the lion population declined by fifty percent.
World Lion Day, therefore, has three objectives. The first is to raise awareness of the plight of the lion and the issues that the species faces in the wild. The second is to find ways to protect the big cat’s natural environment, such as creating more national parks and reducing the areas in which people can settle. And the third is to educate people who live near wild cats on the dangers and how to protect themselves. Humans and large species like cats can live in harmony together, but only if they understand how to do so. (daysoftheyear.com)
Lion / Löwe (Panthera leo)
with his gaze on an uncertain future
in Serengeti N.P., Tanzania, Africa
More lions from Africa and India in my personal Lion Collection.
World Lion Day, 10th August, 2021
What are you greedy humans doing to our precious planet?
You slaughter my brothers and sisters for fun,
you take away our habitat,
you plunder the earth
and you heat it up with your selfish waste of energy from fossil fuels.
When are you gonna stop all this madness?
Lions – with the scientific name Panthera leo – are the second-largest cat in the world, just behind the Asian tiger. These immense creatures, weighing between 300 and 550 pounds, have sparked the popular imagination for centuries, inspiring awe through their speed and muscular power.
Three million years ago, lions roamed all over Africa and the Eurasian supercontinent. But today, various ice ages and changes in the natural environment means that their range is reduced primarily to Africa and select parts of Asia.
According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, lions are a “vulnerable” species, meaning that their numbers could and should be higher. Currently, researchers estimate that there are between 16,000 and 30,000 lions left on planet Earth. Without significant intervention, there is a chance that they could find themselves on the endangered list alongside other species most at risk of extinction.
World Lion Day, therefore, is an opportunity for lion lovers all over the planet to push back against the decline in the range and habitat of the king of beasts. These giant animals are among the world’s largest land species and an apex predator with a reputation like no other. It would be a tragic loss for both nature and humanity if the species were to disappear entirely from the natural environment.
The threats against lions, however, are all too real. They face the dual specters of increasingly popular “trophy hunting” and human incursion on their traditional wildlands. A reduction in food combined with hunting tourism is making them more vulnerable with every passing year. Over the last four decades, the lion population declined by fifty percent.
World Lion Day, therefore, has three objectives. The first is to raise awareness of the plight of the lion and the issues that the species faces in the wild. The second is to find ways to protect the big cat’s natural environment, such as creating more national parks and reducing the areas in which people can settle. And the third is to educate people who live near wild cats on the dangers and how to protect themselves. Humans and large species like cats can live in harmony together, but only if they understand how to do so. (daysoftheyear.com)
Lion / Löwe (Panthera leo)
with his gaze on an uncertain future
in Serengeti N.P., Tanzania, Africa
More lions from Africa and India in my personal Lion Collection.