[2] Since the turn of the 21st century, lion populations in intensively managed protected areas in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe have increased, but declined in East African range countries.

[9][10] Felis (Leo) melanochaitus was the scientific name proposed by Charles Hamilton Smith in 1842 who described a lion specimen from South Africa's Cape Province.

[25] Ellerman and Morrison-Scott recognized only two lion subspecies in the Palearctic realm, namely the African P. l. leo and the Asiatic P. l.

[23] In 1975, Vratislav Mazák hypothesized that the Cape lion evolved geographically isolated from other populations by the Great Escarpment.

Genetic exchanges between populations in the Cape, Kalahari and Transvaal Province regions and farther east are considered having been possible through a corridor between the Great Escarpment and the Indian Ocean.

[28][29] In 2005, the authors of Mammal Species of the World recognized P. l. bleyenberghi, P. l. krugeri, P. l. vernayi, P. l. massaica, P. l. hollisteri and P. l. nyanzae as valid taxa.

[30] 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.

Results of genetic analyses indicate that the species comprises two main evolutionary groups, one in Southern and East Africa, and the other in the northern and eastern parts of its historical range.

[7] A phylogenetic analysis of lion samples from Africa and Asia showed that they shared a common ancestor probably between 98,000 and 52,000 years ago.

[5] Lions, which can be grouped into the southeastern clade are found in Southern Kenya, Western DRC, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, southern Namibia and South Africa, with a larger hybridization zone to the southwestern lion clade in the Kruger National Park area (Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park).

[69] The longest wild lion reportedly was a male shot near Mucusso National Park in southern Angola in 1973.

Mane colour varies from sandy, tawny, isabelline, light reddish yellow to dark brown and black.

Males living in the Kenyan highlands above elevations of 800 m (2,600 ft) develop heavier manes than lions in the more humid and warmer lowlands of eastern and northern Kenya.

In Serengeti National Park, female lions favour males with dense and dark manes as mates.

[75][76] White lions have occasionally been encountered in and around South Africa's Kruger National Park and the adjacent Timbavati Private Game Reserve.

Lion prides avoided acacia woodlands and preferred habitats near water courses with short grasses, where also prey species gathered.

Results show that adult male and female lions preferred grassland and shrubland habitat, but avoided woodlands and areas with high human density.

By contrast, subadult dispersing male lions avoided grasslands and shrublands, but moved in human-dominated areas to a larger extent.

[88] Lions usually hunt in groups and prey foremost on ungulates such as 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), plains zebra (Equus quagga), bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus), common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus), hartebeest (Alcephalus buselaphus), common tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus), waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus), kob (K. kob) and Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii).

[89] In the Serengeti National Park, lions were observed to also scavenge on carrion of animals that were killed by other predators, or died from natural causes.

[90] In Botswana's Chobe National Park, lions also prey on young and subadult African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana).

Prey base depletion, loss and conversion of habitat have led to a number of subpopulations becoming small and isolated.

[2] It is the primary cause for a decline of lion populations in Tanzania's Selous Game Reserve and Katavi National Park.

[104] In February 2018, the carcasses of two male and four female lions were found dead in Ruaha National Park, and were suspected to have died of poisoning.

[105][106] In 2015 and 2017, two male lions, Cecil and his son Xanda, were killed by trophy hunters in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park.

[4] Local communities in several Southern African lion range countries generate significant income through wildlife tourism, which is a strong incentive for their support of conservation measures.

Makgadikgadi Pans National Park and Central Kalahari Game Reserve are key dispersal areas in Southern Africa.

It is assumed that their ancestors, five males and two females, were caught in southwestern Ethiopia as part of a zoological collection for Emperor Haile Selassie I.