Whoa! What value is there on a predator? Well, I suppose that if you really like what they prey on, then not all that much. On the other hand, if you place your value in other directions, you probably had better consider the idea more fully.

 

Here is the states, we have largely managed to marginalize many of our predators only to find out that they ought not to have been. In areas where we have gotten rid of wolves, there are way to many deer. And hunting deer in the middle of the suburbs is generally considered to be a problem.

 

In areas where we poison snake nests, there are rats and mice all over the place. The answer to that? Well more poison spread around of course. Mind you, getting rid of the rats and mice means that we have more insects to deal with, so more poison needs to be spread around. Now we find fewer birds around and so on...

 

Yah, man is really good at understanding how nature has everything wrong and useless and how we can do better by trapping and spraying noxious chemicals all over the place. We are just so much better at running the world. Heck, undirected nature kept things going for a couple of billion years just so that we could eventually show up and do whatever we felt like in an undirected way.

 

 

 

      I am reminded of an Old Joke about;;         Do NOT remove  all the water from the swamp  and THEN  complain about being up to your neck in alligators!!!

I dont give many species much hope. It is obvious that homosapiens is the king of beasts, not the lion. China and India are just beginning their consumerism frenzy, thats 2.5 billion humans vying for a better life.

And what is the 'use' of zebras and all the other animals? You could say that just about any individual species at any level in the eco-system. Should we wipe out everything which is personally annoying? That is extremely arrogant, and unfortunately represents an attitude to the natural world which has lead human-kind to massively degrade the natural world, which we still ultimately depend on to a very significant degree.

The evolution of the prey animals and there behavior, such as their gathering in herds,  is affected to an important degree by the presence of predators. I have watched a solitary lion walking past a herd of wildebeest and zebra, closely watched by all the members of the herd who noticed him. You have said nothing to justify your point. Just what makes wolves 'useful' and lions not? Their behavior as predators is really not that different.

From a practical point of view, lions are very important for tourism - I speak as someone who travelled to Africa to see and photograph African wild-life, and lions were a major part of the attraction and interest. They are an iconic animal in human imagination.

Lions will be extinct SOON, and what then? Is it the end of the world? No. We will survive till our turn to be extinct. Friends: there is no hope. Give me good, solid reason for lions to have our applause, apart the tourism factor. There is none. Lions [AS A SPECIES] are useless.

I do agree with that! It is what will eventually happen with this planet. Scientists say it happened already a few times. Remember the dinosaurs?... As for lions, I live in South Africa and have seen lions regularly, a few metres from my car. They look tame and useless, but are terribly dangerous, killing a man in seconds! It is exactly because they kill men and eat them that they are going to be extinct sometime. What will happen then? Nothing special; life will carry on for some more centuries, and then the end... [if nuclear bombs are not discharged in the Middle East earlier on].

Yes, you're right. The lions in the Kruger National Park are for now protected and controlled. Which is good for tourism. If it were not for that, by now there wouldn't be any left in this country.
But I reiterate: lions "as a species" are not necessary ecologically speaking. The few zebra or wildebeest they eat don't count anything in the larger picture [larger but always shrinking]. The sentimental among us will cry for sometime that we used to have a cruel carnivore called lion, but it will be better for population in Kenya and other places to live a more tranquil life WITHOUT lions. It's a useless species.

...which is a good reason why hippos, buffalo, and crocodiles should be allowed to flourish.

What you never had lion sausage?

P.S. crocodiles do taste good they have some use. 

Just what makes an animal 'useful' to you, apart from its edibility???

Lions are edible by the way, apparently more as steaks than sausages....

Julio, go back and read your own posts. You give a use for lions yourself. Remember just because their not good for sausage doesn't mean they can't help you obtain sausage ;D

Well, this forum, like many others, is primarily for entertainment, though one might learn a few things in between laughs. As for lions' utility, they have none of real significance. You point to us something really important about lions [apart tourism] and I might change my mind. I live in South Africa where there are no lions in the wild [only in national parks]. Do we have suffered any serious impact because of no lions in the wild? No.

   You make a very hubris point,only thinking about the impact on humans,but the reality is that us humans contribute absolutely nothing towards nature,we are the only species that kill one another over the dumbest reasons such as religion or has the capacity to annihilate all of life with a nuclear war and not to mention the problems of global warming,it's human that is the problems not the LIONS. At least the kills that the lions make is for their survival and their scraps are devoured by insects and vultures.The planet would be better off if humans became extinct.

Yes, I have to agree with you, who would not! Indeed, the humans are the WORST species on this DANGEROUS planet. We even kill lions for sausages... no, sorry; that was a bad joke!... But you're right. When men go to war they kill many, many innocent species, and destroy everything in the war path; we are terrible indeed!! However, the topic here is the uselessness of the lions as a species, which I see as of no consequence for ecology if they disappear from Kenya or the Africa continent. OK, tourism would never be the same if lions were extinct in Africa. Who would come down here from the northern hemisphere to only see the Big Four?!...

Please, don't misquote me. I only said lions are useless. You never had a family member attacked and eaten by lions!! In Kenya, livestock and humans are attacked by those wild beasts!!! What do they do, then? They apply the destructive formula: One lion kills one human being, SEVERAL human beings kill several lions! Result? Lions will lose for attacking humans! It is the survival of the fittest. Now, we are very sentimental about lions because we like to see them in zoos or in the circuses. It is a SICK planet!

   Wrong.  I like lions because they used to eat Christians.

 

I agree with Julio

The loss of the lion is inevitable and the impact will merely be psychological and symbolic. It will not gravely impact the ecology.

The lion will disappear, tough shit.

true, but they've certainly been known to kill them.  they were once used as beasts of war, after all.

I have to agree with you; you caught me out of balance. Indeed, the elephants are a bigger menace in the national park, because they have little space to wonder. Due to that, the culling of elephants is inevitable, but there is much debate about it, here in South Africa. The same would happen with the lions if they multiplied like elephants. One occasion, in that park, I stopped my car a mere 5 metres away from the biggest beast of an elephant male I had ever seen in my life!! The beast would have a mass of perhaps a thousand kilos! Massive, and unbelievable. It is true that when they get "nervous" they destroy the natural habitat like no other. As for the ants, you're right again. Indeed, we are right now surrounded by the Argentine ant invading everywhere, but they do not eat people [we're luck, I tell you!].

True, but I think the Park's "Constitution" doesn't allow game hunting inside it. However, the rangers do KILL lions and elephants when needed. As you say, a great waste of money indeed. Sterilizing elephants, by the way, is a no-no, for reasons of female rejection and fightings resulting in brutal killings among them. Also very, very expensive!  

Well, yes... I have to sort of agree with you; this topic is somewhat useless. Like the lions... Are you sure one could eat lion meat and live?... I don't know. Too exotic perhaps...

Where did you get the idea the lion meat would not be edible?

Just one reference, from a South African newspaper:

 

Is killing an elephant equal to killing a human to you?

I read somewhere that one can get lion meat, but not here in South Africa, as far as I know, not legally. Besides, what would that meat taste like?... I wouldn't even try it! [Maybe in disguised sausages, with beef or buffalo...]. Wouldn't lion flesh be dangerous with all those bacteria from a purely carnivorous digestion, I wonder?...

Even the parasites are possibly not an issue. There is a phenomenon known as the “species barrier” that is not easily crossed by many microorganisms. Then too, even when a jump is known to be viable, they are killed by proper cooking. Hence the guidelines that certain types of meat must be fully cooked (such as pork and poultry).

 

For many animals, the species barrier is proof enough that it is usually safe enough for humans to eat rare cooked meat (like cows). In the case of the potential felidae/hominidae barrier, there is not much that is known to be capable of jumping the gap. I have heard that people diagnosed with HIV are commonly tested for a couple of strains of feline bacteria as they can be a problem. However, HIV is such a game changer as far as risk factor go that I would suspect that most people don't need to worry about such risks.

 

The largest risk from cows is the gut bacteria that Bob mentioned. At least in American factories, it sometimes happens that the animal's gut will get cut accidentally and spill the e. coli, thus contaminating what meat it comes in contact with.

 

Here I would note that most land mammals (including humans) have strains of e. coli that are adapted to their specific dietary needs. The major risk from bovine e. coli to humans is that it is adapted to digest grass and is just not something that humans need or want in them. While no data likely exists on the matter, the fact that lions have a diet that is somewhat similar to humans, it is certainly in the realm of contemplation that it would not be as large of a problem.