Last week Ed blogged about a new PLoS paperEd blogged about a new PLoS paperEd blogged about a new PLoS paper implicating canine distemper, parasites, and climate changes in the severe reductions in lion some lion populations seen during the last 15 years in Africa. Coincidentally, the PBS show Nature featured a special last night called “Vanishing Lions” about similar problems, with the interactions between lions and humans in Kenya dominated the film;

In many places lions are being ecologically strangled to death. With their ranges restricted to parks (lions who wander outside and kill livestock are killed), lions in some parts of Africa are facing increasing problems like disease, inbreeding, poaching, and encroachment by humans. The