The wild lion population has been decreasing over the last few thousand years with the population falling at its most rapidly over the last three hundred years. Evolving in East Africa the lion spread out of the continent into Europe and Asia and even into North America during the last ice age. The modern lion as we know it today has lived in Africa for hundreds of thousands of years. As mankind's influence has shaped the planet over time their most iconic competitor has been persecuted and driven into significant decline. As near as two hundred years ago lions were still found in places like Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey, one hundred years later only a tiny population of around 30 was left in northern India, as the last lions in the middle east and outside of Africa were wiped out, the last remnant and reminder of how far this once mighty species had spread.

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The very well protected Asiatic lion population has now reached saturation point in the Gir Forest after reaching near extinction last century with a total population of around 650 currently residing in the National Park. The African lion population continues to decrease in almost all populations outside South Africa. The estimated wild population in Africa now sits at around 23,000 with estimates of hundreds of thousands as close as last century. 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.