Editing Lion (section)

==Distribution and habitat==
[[File:Lions.Gir5.jpg|thumb|Lion in [[Gir National Park]], India]]
African lions live in scattered populations across sub-Saharan Africa. The lion prefers grassy plains and [[savannah]]s, scrub bordering rivers, and open woodlands with bushes. It rarely enters closed forests. On [[Mount Elgon]], the lion has been recorded up to an elevation of {{cvt|3600|m}} and close to the snow line on [[Mount Kenya]].<ref name=Guggisberg1975>{{Cite book |last=Guggisberg |first=C. A. W. |title=Wild Cats of the World |year=1975 |publisher=Taplinger Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8008-8324-9 |chapter=Lion ''Panthera leo'' (Linnaeus, 1758) |pages=138–179 |chapter-url=}}</ref> Savannahs with an annual rainfall of {{cvt|300|to|1500|mm}} make up the majority of lion habitat in Africa, estimated at {{cvt|3390821|km2}} at most, but remnant populations are also present in tropical moist forests in West Africa and [[Afromontane|montane]] forests in East Africa.<ref name=Riggio_al2013>{{cite journal |author=Riggio, J. |author2=Jacobson, A. |author3=Dollar, L. |author4=Bauer, H. |author5=Becker, M. |author6=Dickman, A. |author7=Funston, P. |author8=Groom, R. |author9=Henschel, P. |author10=de Iongh, H. |author11=Lichtenfeld, L. |author12=Pimm, S. |year=2013 |title=The size of savannah Africa: a lion's (''Panthera leo'') view |journal=Biodiversity Conservation |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=17–35|doi=10.1007/s10531-012-0381-4 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2013BiCon..22...17R }}</ref> The Asiatic lion now survives only in and around [[Gir National Park]] in Gujarat, western India. Its habitat is a mixture of dry savannah forest and very dry, deciduous [[scrub forest]].<ref name=Breitenmoser2008/>

===Historical range===
In Africa, the range of the lion originally spanned most of the central [[African rainforest]] zone and the [[Sahara]] desert.<ref name=Schaller5>[[#Schaller|Schaller]], p. 5.</ref> In the 1960s, it became extinct in North Africa, except in the southern part of Sudan.<ref name=Chardonnet2002/><ref name=Riggio_al2013/><ref name=Black_al2013>{{cite journal |last1=Black |first1=S. A. |last2=Fellous |first2=A. |last3=Yamaguchi |first3=N. | last4=Roberts |first4=D. L. |year=2013 |title=Examining the Extinction of the Barbary Lion and Its Implications for Felid Conservation |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=8 |issue=4 |page=e60174 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0060174 |pmid=23573239 |pmc=3616087 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...860174B |doi-access=free }}</ref>

During the mid-[[Holocene]], around 8,000-6,000 years ago, the range of lions expanded into Southeastern and Eastern Europe, partially re-occupying the range of the now extinct [[Panthera spelaea|cave lion]].<ref name=Marciszak2022>{{Cite journal |last1=Marciszak |first1=A. |last2=Ivanoff |first2=D. V. |last3=Semenov |first3=Y. A. |last4=Talamo |first4=S. |last5=Ridush |first5=B. |last6=Stupak |first6=A. |last7=Yanish |first7=Y. |last8=Kovalchuk |first8=O. |date=2022 |title=The Quaternary lions of Ukraine and a trend of decreasing size in ''Panthera spelaea'' |journal=[[Journal of Mammalian Evolution]] |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=109–135 |doi=10.1007/s10914-022-09635-3 |hdl-access=free |hdl=11585/903022 }}</ref> In [[Hungary]], the modern lion was present from about 4,500 to 3,200 years  [[Before Present]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Daróczi-Szabó, M. |author2=Kovács, Z. E. |author3=Raczky, P. |author4=Bartosiewicz, L.  |year=2020 |title=Pending danger: Recent copper age lion (''Panthera leo'' L., 1758) finds from Hungary |journal=International Journal of Osteoarchaeology |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=469–481 |doi=10.1002/oa.2875|doi-access=free }}</ref> In [[Ukraine]], the modern lion was present from about 6,400 to 2,000 years Before Present.<ref name=Marciszak2022 /> In Greece, it was common, as reported by [[Herodotus]] in 480 BC; it was considered rare by 300 BC and [[Local extinction|extirpated]] by AD 100.<ref name=Guggisberg1975 />

In Asia the lion once ranged in regions where climatic conditions supported an abundance of prey.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schnitzler |first1=A. |last2=Hermann |first2=L.  |title=Chronological distribution of the tiger ''Panthera tigris'' and the Asiatic lion ''Panthera leo persica'' in their common range in Asia |journal=[[Mammal Review]] |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=340–353 |doi=10.1111/mam.12166 |date=2019 |bibcode=2019MamRv..49..340S |s2cid=202040786}}</ref> It was present in the [[Caucasus]] until the 10th century.<ref name=USSR/> It lived in the [[Levant]] until the [[Middle Ages]] and in Southwest Asia until the late 19th century. By the late 19th century, it had been extirpated in most of Turkey.<ref>{{cite book |author=Üstay, A. H. |year=1990 |title=Hunting in Turkey |publisher=BBA |location=Istanbul}}</ref> The last live lion in Iran was sighted in 1942, about {{cvt|65|km}} northwest of [[Dezful]],<ref name=Firouz05>{{cite book|last=Firouz|first=E.|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t2EZCScFXloC&pg=PA66|title=The complete fauna of Iran |publisher=I. B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-85043-946-2 |pages=5–67|access-date=25 September 2019|archive-date=5 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240505151453/https://books.google.com/books?id=t2EZCScFXloC&pg=PA66|url-status=live}}</ref> although the corpse of a lioness was found on the banks of the [[Karun]] river in [[Khuzestan province]] in 1944.<ref name=simba /> It once ranged from [[Sind]] and [[Punjab]] in Pakistan to [[Bengal]] and the [[Narmada River]] in central India.<ref name=Kinnear1920>{{cite journal |author=Kinnear, N. B. |year=1920 |title=The past and present distribution of the lion in southeastern Asia |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume=27 |pages=34–39 |url=https://archive.org/stream/journalofbombayn27192022bomb#page/32/mode/2up}}</ref>