Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
They run into few trees.
The rents are low.
Although each choice could be correct, the best response is “that's where those cute little impalas
live.” Lions love impalas.
Indeed,theytrulylovethemtodeath.Likeallwildanimals,lionstendtoliveinplaceswheretheycan
find relatively abundant food to their liking. So lions hang out where impalas, zebras, wildebeests,
and other animals are on the menu. Lions, of course, are
carnivores
— meat-eaters. And nearly all
the animals on the menu are
herbivores
— grass-eaters. So lions prefer to live in a grassland because,
as far as they are concerned, it's one big meat market.
Extinction made easy
Time to stop beating around the bush — and around the grassland, for that matter. The main message
of the map is that lion country is a small fraction of its former size. And although the animal itself is
not on the brink of extinction, things would appear to be headed in that direction. So what happened?
Perhaps it would be better if I personalized the question. Let's say you really have it in for the king of
beasts and want to get rid them. I'm talking extinction. What is a safe, easy, and effective way to go
about it? You have a couple of options:
Shoot every last one of them
Teach impalas self-defense
Destroy their habitat
Force them into early retirement
Pack them off to Australia
Although each response has some possibilities, the best choice is “destroy their habitat.” And that is
indeed the main reason for the reduction of lion country from its former dimensions to its present
ones and is also the reason why the lion is located where it is now.
A natural habitat can change for natural reasons or for unnatural reasons. As regards to the former,
climate change is a major possibility. Natural grasslands are the result of a specific set of climatic
characteristics. So if those climatic factors change, you would expect grasslands to change, too. Now,
ample evidence exists of climate change in Africa. But the nature and extent of it is insufficient to ex-
