of the West African lion clade are surviving in a few protected areas from Senegal in the west to Nigeria in the east. This population has lost 99% of its former range. Between 246 and 466 lions live in the WAP-Complex, a large system of protected areas formed mainly by W, Arli, and Pendjari National Parks in Burkina Faso, Benin, and Niger. It is regionally extinct in Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, and Togo, and possibly extinct in Guinea and Ghana. The border between the West African and the Central African lion clade is following largely the lower Niger River, which seems to act as a permanent barrier for gene flow. Central African clade The Central African lion population inhabits protected areas of: Cameroon, where lions are present in Bénoué National Park. In the North Province, Cameroon, lions were recorded during a survey between January 2008 and May 2010. The small lion population in Waza National Park is isolated, and by 2008 had declined to maximum 20 individuals. In the southern part of the country, 2 lions were discovered in Mpem and Djim National Park in April 2019. Central African Republic, where lions are present in Bamingui-Bangoran National Park and Biosphere Reserve, Manovo-Gounda St. Floris and Awakaba National Parks, Aouk Aoukale, Yata Ngaya, Nana Barya and Zemongo Faunal Reserves, and in several hunting reserves of the country. Estimated lion numbers in the country are generally thought to be unreliable. Chad, where lions inhabit Siniaka-Minia Faunal Reserve and Zakouma and Aouk National Parks, but have been extirpated in Manda National Park. Lions may still be present in pastoral rangelands and mountain ranges outside protected areas. In 2004, the lion population in the country was estimated at maximum of 225 individuals. northern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where lions permanently inhabit rainforests and clearings in rainforest mixed with savannah grassland. Sudan's Southern Darfur province, where lions were abundant in the 1950s; some caused damage to livestock and were poisoned; 76 lions were shot between 1947 and 1952. Lions were recorded in the Dinder–Alatash protected area complex during surveys between 2015 and 2018. South Sudan, where little is known about lion distribution and population sizes. Lions in Radom and Southern National Parks are probably connected to lions in the Central African Republic. Ethiopia has lions from the Northern as well as from the Southern lion subspecies and