[17] In the following decades, there has been much debate among zoologists on the validity of proposed subspecies: In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group subsumed lion populations in North, West and Central Africa and Asia to P. l. leo, based on results of genetic research on lion samples.

[2] Since the beginning of the 21st century, several phylogenetic studies were conducted to aid clarifying the taxonomic status of lion samples kept in museums and collected in the wild.

They all agree that the lion comprises two evolutionary groups, one in the northern and eastern parts of its historical range, and the other in Southern and East Africa; they are estimated to have genetically diverged between 245,000 and 50,000 years ago.

Genome-wide data of a historical lion sample from Sudan showed that it clustered with P. l. leo in mitochondrial DNA-based phylogenies, but with a high affinity with P. l. melanochaita.

[31] Taxonomists recognised that neither skin nor mane colour and length of lions can be adduced as distinct subspecific characteristics.

[2] It is regionally extinct in The Gambia, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, the Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan.

Between 246 and 466 lions live in the WAP-Complex, a large system of protected areas formed mainly by W, Arli, and Pendjari National Parks in Burkina Faso, Benin, and Niger.

[8] Therefore, the range of this lion clade encompassed historically North Africa, southeastern Europe, the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

They hunt large ungulates in the range of 40–270 kg (88–595 lb) including gemsbok (Oryx gazella), Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer), blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), common eland (Tragelaphus oryx), greater kudu (T. strepsiceros), nyala (T. angasii), roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus), sable antelope (H. niger), zebra (Equus quagga), bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus), common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus), hartebeest (Alcephalus buselaphus), common tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus), Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii), waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) and kob (K.

[59] Analysis of 119 faecal samples of lions collected in Cameroon's Faro National Park revealed that lions preyed foremost on kob and harnessed bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus), and to a lesser extent also on waterbuck, crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata), bushpig, roan antelope, olive baboon (Papio anubis) and oribi (Ourebia ourebi).

[60] In India's Gir Forest National Park, lions predominantly kill chital (Axis axis), Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor), nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), cattle (Bos taurus), domestic buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and less frequently also wild boar (Sus scrofa).

[62] An interview survey among livestock owners in six villages in Waza National Park's vicinity revealed that lions attack cattle mostly during the rainy season when wild prey disperses away from artificial waterholes.

[64] In Nigeria, the isolated lion population in Gashaka Gumti National Park is hunted and poisoned by local people.

[65] The lion population in Central Africa is threatened by loss of habitat and prey base and trophy hunting.

[66] Local people living in the vicinity of the protected area accounted in interviews that lions frequently attack livestock during the dry season.

Nomadic herders use bow and arrows poisoned with cobra venom to kill lions in retaliation for attacks on livestock.

[40] In northern parts of Cameroon, increased migration of people from Nigeria following the political insecurity in the region posed a threat to the area's lion population.

[41] Poaching of lions by paramilitary forces has been reported by local people living in the vicinity of Ethiopia's Gambella National Park.

Rangers found multiple lion cadavers and confiscated large amounts of poison in the camps of livestock herders.

They were accompanied by armed merchants who also engaged in poaching large herbivores, sale of bushmeat and trading lion skins.

[34] Surveys and interviews with herders around protected areas revealed that improved enclosures for livestock significantly decreased depredation by lions, and hence contributed to mitigating human-lion conflict.

[74] This recommendation was questioned and strongly opposed, with the argument that the estimate for lion population size in the WAP region is not reliable and therefore the suggested quota inappropriate.