During the Pleistocene Epoch (2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago), lions ranged across all of North America and Africa, through most of the Balkans, and across Anatolia and the Middle East into India.
The California sea lion ranges along the western coast and islands of North America, from southeast Alaska to central Mexico.
The monophyletic lineage of Pallas cat FIV Oma and African lion FIV Ple observed here suggest more ancient inter-species transmission as the last time lions and Pallas cats were in geographic contact was during the Pleistocene when lion ranges spread throughout Asia, providing a possible opportunity for FIV transmission between these species [ 37].
Martell explained that mountain lions do range in the outer precincts of the park, but not close to the human presence; the elk know what side of the canyon their bread is buttered on.
This was not due to the fence surrounding the reserve as the lions' overall range sizes were smaller than the reserve potentially allowed.
The big cats, also known as pumas or mountain lions, once ranged all the way to the East Coast, but were exterminated by hunting and habitat loss through much of their North American range.
Lions once ranged widely across Africa and into Syria, Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, and northwest India.
Estimates of the African lion population range between 16,500 and 47,000 living in the wild in 2002 2004, down from early 1990s estimates that ranged as high as 100,000 and perhaps 400,000 in 1950.
Lion home range sizes vary considerably across study areas, ranging from 20 45 km2 in places like Manyara National Park and Ngorongoro Crater [30], [31] to 2075 km2 in arid ecosystems such as Etosha National Park [32].
The Asiatic Lion once ranged from India to Iran, but by the middle of the 20th century the number had dropped to less than 200, with the entire population living in the Gir forest.
