Once Thought Extinct, 'Lost' Group of Lions Discovered in Africa
Scientists on an expedition found lions living in a remote corner of Ethiopia and Sudan, raising hopes for the embattled species.
Lions have disappeared from much of Africa, but for the past few years scientists have wondered if the big cats were hanging on in remote parts of Sudan and Ethiopia. The region’s inaccessibility and political instability have made surveys difficult.
But scientists released a report Monday documenting, with hard evidence, the discovery of "lost lions."
A team with Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), supported by the charity Born Free, spent two nights in November camping in Alatash National Park in northwest Ethiopia, on the Ethiopia-Sudan border. The researchers set out six camera traps that capturing images of lions, and they identified lion tracks.
The scientists concluded that lions likely also live in the larger, adjacent Dinder National Park across the border in Sudan. The International Union for Conservation of Nature had previously considered the area a "possible
