Fossils discovered in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania, revealed that early humans and lions were co-occurring around 3.5 million years ago. The lion population once spread across most of the African continent and into parts of Europe and Asia but over time persecution, over-exploitation and changes of land use have driven this once widespread iconic species into significant decline. As near as two hundred years ago lions were still found in places outside of Africa like Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey but by the 1900's only a tiny population remained and was found and protected in the Gir Forest in Northern India. This small sub-population famously known now as the Asiatic Lion, which has since recovered to approximately 650 individuals, is a very small reminder of just how far this species once reached.

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The African Lion has been listed by the IUCN as Vulnerable since 1996 and was recently reassessed as such in 2023. The African lion population has suffered a decline of 43% over the 21 years prior to the previous assessment in 2014, published in 2016 (1993-2014) which is approximately three lion generations. The current population trend is listed as decreasing with an estimated number of mature individuals between 23,000-39,000 with a continuing decline of mature individuals. The West African Lion has been listed as Critically Endangered since 2015 with the most recent survey suggesting that only 404 (269-583) remain in this region. The African Lion now lives in less than a quarter of its historic range and are currently distributed in approximately 78 habitat patches in 27 counties and since 2002, five countries have lost their entire lion populations. The main threats to lion populations in the wild are now listed as indiscriminate killing, generally as result of conflict with local communities and in retaliation or pre-emptive killing of lions to protect livestock and human life, prey base depletion and habitat loss and conversion.

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The state of Africa's wild lion population is incredibly concerning as multiple pressures around small population success such as inbreeding, resistance to disease are now becoming more prominent. Pressure with local communities is now one of their top threats as lions and people are pushed closer and closer together. Therefore conservation efforts to try and preserve lions are critical to their long term survival in the wild.