Hunting has seen big cats lose their strength and put their survival at risk

Still hailed as the king of the jungle, the lion species has seen an alarming rapid decline in their genetic fitness from their ancestors who lived more than 100 years ago.

Following a study conducted by researchers at the Zoological Society of London, the impact of hunting the big cats has seen a worrying decline in their genetic status.

According to the research, the decline in their physical strength over the course of a century is likely to have been impacted by hunting of the wild animals in Africa.  

The study, titled ‘A century of decline: Loss of genetic diversity in a southern African lion‐conservation stronghol’, aimed to analyse ‘the change in genetic diversity over a defined spatial area’ and shed light on the decline of the lion population. 

The lion species has seen an alarming rapid decline in their genetic fitness from their ancestors who lived more than 100 years ago in Africa

Lead author and conservation biologist at the Zoological Society of London Simon Dures worked with a team of researches to carry out the study

In order to analyse a decline, the team of animals experts compared the samples of  historical and modern lions from the Kavango–Zambezi region. 

Lead author and conservation biologist at the Zoological Society of London Simon Dures said: ‘Our analysis demonstrates that over the past century, the lion population of the Kavango–Zambezi region has lost genetic diversity.’

In addition to collecting the DNA from wild lions in the Kavango-Zambezi conservation area, researchers also collected samples of skin and bone from lions that had been killed between the years of 1879-1935 and sent to the Natural History Museum.  

The team found the onset of the species’ decline began as the first European colonialists and hunters arrived in areas of Africa in the 19th century and started to persecute the animals.       

However Mr Dures added that while the evidence relating to the timing of their genetic decline and European settlement was ‘compelling’, the evidence was not ‘conclusive’. 

Pictured: David Farrar and Dana Andrews  stand over the slain carcass of a lion in a scene from ‘Duel in the Jungle’ in 1954

According to the research, as the first European colonialists and hunters arrived in Africa in the 19th century, the species began to experience a decline in their physical strength 

The team collected the DNA from wild lions in the Kavango-Zambezi conservation area and samples of skin and bone from lions kept in the Natural History Museum

In the report Mr Dures added: ‘The rapid decline observed in allelic richness and the highest levels of genetic differentiation coincide with the arrival of the first western settlers in 1890 and the subsequent rise of the colonial presence in the region after the end of the Matabele Wars in 1897.

‘Furthermore, modern firearms became more prevalent following European settlement and predators were often persecuted as vermin, which likely contributed to the earlier decline of lions in the study region. 

‘While the timing of genetic decline and colonial settlement is compelling enough to suggest causation, the evidence is not conclusive.’

The new study provides further evidence on the importance of protecting the species from hunters and the effects of climate change.