Editing Lion (section)

===Health and mortality===

[[File:Lake-Nakuru-Lions-in-Tree.JPG|thumb|Lions in a tree near [[Lake Nakuru]]]]

Lions may live 12–17 years in the wild.<ref name=Haas2005/> Although adult lions have no natural predators, evidence suggests most die violently from attacks by humans or other lions.<ref name="Schaller183">[[#Schaller|Schaller]], p. 183.</ref> Lions often inflict serious injuries on members of other prides they encounter in territorial disputes or members of the home pride when fighting at a kill.<ref name="Schaller1889">[[#Schaller|Schaller]], pp. 188–189.</ref> Crippled lions and cubs may fall victim to hyenas and leopards or be trampled by buffalo or elephants. Careless lions may be maimed when hunting prey.<ref name="Schaller1890">[[#Schaller|Schaller]], pp. 189–190.</ref>  [[Nile crocodile]]s may also kill and eat lions, evidenced by the occasional lion claw found in crocodile stomachs.<ref name="Guggisberg1972">{{Cite book |last=Guggisberg |first=C. A. W. |title=Crocodiles: Their Natural History, Folklore, and Conservation |year=1972 |page=195 |isbn=978-0-7153-5272-4 |publisher=David & Charles |location=Newton Abbot |url=<!--rem url : no preview provided-->}}</ref>

[[Tick]]s commonly infest the ears, neck and groin regions of the lions.<ref name="Schaller184">[[#Schaller|Schaller]], p. 184.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Yeoman |first=Guy Henry|author2=Walker, Jane Brotherton |title=The ixodid ticks of Tanzania |year=1967 |publisher=Commonwealth Institute of Entomology |location=London |oclc=955970}}</ref> Adult forms of several [[tapeworm]] species of the genus ''[[Taenia (flatworm)|Taenia]]'' have been isolated from lion intestines, having been ingested as larvae in [[antelope]] meat.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sachs |first=R. |year=1969|title=Untersuchungen zur Artbestimmung und Differenzierung der Muskelfinnen ostafrikanischer Wildtiere [Differentiation and species determination of muscle-cysticerci in East African game animals] |journal=Zeitschrift für Tropenmedizin und Parasitologie |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=39–50 |pmid=5393325|language=de}}</ref> Lions in the Ngorongoro Crater were afflicted by an outbreak of stable fly (''[[Stable fly|Stomoxys calcitrans]]'') in 1962, resulting in lions becoming emaciated and covered in bloody, bare patches. Lions sought unsuccessfully to evade the biting flies by climbing trees or crawling into hyena burrows; many died or migrated and the local population dropped from 70 to 15 individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fosbrooke |first=H. |year=1963 |title=The stomoxys plague in Ngorongoro |journal=East African Wildlife Journal |volume=1 |issue=6 |pages=124–126 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2028.1963.tb00190.x}}</ref> A more recent outbreak in 2001 killed six lions.<ref name="Nkwame06">{{Cite news | last=Nkwame | first=V. M. |title=King of the jungle in jeopardy | work=The Arusha Times| date=9 September 2006 | url=http://www.arushatimes.co.tz/2006/36/features_10.htm | access-date=4 September 2007 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929044925/http://www.arushatimes.co.tz/2006/36/features_10.htm | archive-date=29 September 2007 | df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Captive lions have been infected with [[canine distemper]] virus (CDV) since at least the mid-1970s.<ref>{{Cite journal |author1=Myers, D. L. |author2=Zurbriggen, A. |author3=Lutz, H. |author4=Pospischil, A. |date=1997 |title=Distemper: not a new disease in lions and tigers |journal=Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=180–184 |doi=10.1128/CDLI.4.2.180-184.1997 |pmid=9067652 |pmc=170498 |url=}}</ref> CDV is spread by domestic dogs and other carnivores; a 1994 outbreak in Serengeti National Park resulted in many lions developing neurological symptoms such as seizures. During the outbreak, several lions died from [[pneumonia]] and [[encephalitis]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Roelke-Parker|first1=M. E.|date=1996 |title=A canine distemper epidemic in Serengeti lions (''Panthera leo'') |journal=Nature |volume=379 |issue=6564 |pages=441–445 |doi=10.1038/379441a0|pmid=8559247 |last2=Munson |first2=L. |last3=Packer |first3=C. |last4=Kock |first4=R. |last5=Cleaveland |first5=S. |last6=Carpenter |first6=M. |last7=O'Brien |first7=S. J. |last8=Pospischil |first8=A. |last9=Hofmann-Lehmann |first9=R. |first10=Hans |last10=L. |first11=G. L. M. |last11=Mwanengele |first12=M. N. |last12=Mgasa |first13=G. A. |last13=Machange |first14=B. A. |last14=Summers |first15=M. J. G. |last15=Appel |bibcode=1996Natur.379..441R|pmc=7095363 }}</ref> [[Feline immunodeficiency virus]] and [[lentivirus]] also affect captive lions.<ref>{{Cite journal |author1=Bull, M. E. |author2=Kennedy-Stoskopf, S. |author3=Levine, J. F. |author4=Loomis, M. |author5=Gebhard, D. G. |author6=Tompkins, W. A. |date=2003 |title=Evaluation of T lymphocytes in captive African lions (''Panthera leo'') infected with feline immunodeficiency virus |journal=American Journal of Veterinary Research |volume=64 |issue=10 |pages=1293–1300 |doi=10.2460/ajvr.2003.64.1293|pmid=14596469 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author1=Poli, A. |author2=Abramo, F. |author3=Cavicchio, P. |author4=Bandecchi, P. |author5=Ghelardi, E. |author6=Pistello, M. |date=1995 |title=Lentivirus infection in an African lion: a clinical, pathologic and virologic study |journal=Journal of Wildlife Diseases |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=70–74 |doi=10.7589/0090-3558-31.1.70|pmid=7563428 |doi-access=free }}</ref>