The Wildlife
Atlas
What still roams the Atlas. What was hunted to silence. Morocco holds 118 mammal species, 490 bird species, and 40 ecosystems — but its three apex predators are gone from the wild. The Barbary lion, the Atlas bear, the leopard: each a ghost in its own mountains.
IUCN Red List — Conservation Status Scale
Species Profiles
5 species lost. 6 critically endangered or endangered. Select a category to filter, or explore featured species for the full story.
Threats
Largest lion subspecies in recorded history. Males weighed up to 300 kg with dark manes extending over belly and between hind legs. Hunted by Romans for Colosseum spectacles — thousands were captured and shipped across the Mediterranean. The Moroccan royal family kept lions as symbols of power for centuries; Berber tribes presented captured lions to sultans as pledges of loyalty. When the royal family was exiled in 1953, 21 lions were transferred to zoos in Rabat and Casablanca. These "Royal Lions" are now the only known descendants.
Key Fact
The last confirmed wild Barbary lion was shot in the Atlas Mountains in 1922 by a French colonial hunter. But research published in PLoS ONE (2013) found eyewitness accounts suggesting lions survived in remote areas until the 1960s — possibly as late as 1965 in Algeria.
Feature — The Atlas Lion
The Ghost in
the Mountains
The Barbary lion was not just a predator. It was the symbol of North African power for three thousand years. Nubian deities wore its face. Roman emperors filled colosseums with its rage. Moroccan sultans kept it behind palace walls as proof of divine authority. The football team still carries its name.
What killed it was not spectacular. Deforestation of the Atlas Mountains for timber and agriculture shrank its range decade by decade. The arrival of modern firearms in the 19th century made what remained a target. French colonial hunters treated it as a trophy. By 1922, the gunshot that killed the last confirmed wild lion echoed through empty cedar forests.
But the story has a strange coda. When Morocco's royal family was exiled in 1953, twenty-one lions from the palace collection were transferred to zoos. These “Royal Lions” — descendants of animals that Berber tribes had presented to sultans as pledges of loyalty — carried genetics that may be the last link to the wild Barbary population.
Today, the Rabat Zoo houses 32 of approximately 90 Royal Barbary lions known worldwide. A studbook tracks every descendant. European zoos in Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and the UK run coordinated breeding programmes. The Atlas Lion Project proposes eventual reintroduction to the wild — a return to the mountains — though it remains unfunded and controversial.
And then there are the eyewitnesses. A 2013 study in PLoS ONE interviewed elderly residents of remote Algerian communities who described seeing lions well after 1922. Statistical modelling placed the probable extinction date in Morocco at 1948 — possibly as late as the 1960s. The last mountain forests near Algeria's coast were destroyed during the French-Algerian War. The lions, if any still lived, would have burned with the trees.
Hannibal crosses Alps with North African elephants — the lion's ecosystem still intact
Thousands of Barbary lions captured and shipped to Roman arenas across the empire
Sultans and kings maintain royal lion collections — Berber tribes gift captured animals
Last confirmed wild Barbary lion killed by French colonial hunter in Atlas Mountains
~90 Royal Lions survive in captivity. Reintroduction proposed but unfunded.
Protected Areas
National Parks of Morocco
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Toubkal
1942North Africa's highest peak (4,167m). Morocco's oldest national park. Alpine meadows and cedar forests.
Souss-Massa
1991Holds the world's only wild breeding colonies of northern bald ibis. Morocco's most important bird conservation site.
Ifrane
2004Africa's largest remaining Barbary macaque population. Atlas cedar forests — some trees over 800 years old.
Al Hoceima
2004Marine and terrestrial park. Secluded coves provide refuge for Mediterranean monk seal.
Talassemtane
2004Home to the critically endangered Moroccan fir — a relict species from the Ice Age. Dense forests near Chefchaouen.
Tazekka
1950"Born to be Wild" programme returns confiscated macaques to protected habitat here.
Iriqui
1994Former lake bed on the Saharan edge. Seasonal wetland that attracts migratory birds and desert species.
Khenifiss
2006Coastal lagoon and desert. Major wintering ground for European migratory birds.
Timeline
What Was Lost & What Was Saved
North African elephant and Atlas wild ass hunted to extinction — driven by Roman arena demand and ivory trade
Last Atlas bear killed near Tetouan in the Rif Mountains. Africa loses its only native bear.
French Protectorate begins. Firearms flood the countryside. Systematic deforestation of Atlas cedar forests accelerates.
Last confirmed wild Barbary lion shot in the Atlas Mountains by a French colonial hunter.
Bubal hartebeest declared extinct. The last North African antelope vanishes.
Toubkal National Park established — Morocco's first protected area. A lion reportedly shot near Tizi-n-Tichka pass.
Barbary leopard population drops to 50–100 in the Atlas. Crocodiles disappear from the Draa River system.
Royal family exiled. 21 royal Barbary lions transferred to Rabat and Casablanca zoos — unknowingly saving the lineage.
Northern bald ibis population crashes to ~600 birds in 13 colonies. Down from 1,500 in 1940.
Last confirmed killing of a Barbary leopard in Morocco.
Souss-Massa National Park created — the decision that saved the northern bald ibis from extinction.
Last verified record of Barbary leopard in Morocco. Fewer than 5 estimated to remain.
Northern bald ibis reaches rock bottom: 59 breeding pairs. Community wardens recruited from local fishing villages.
Ifrane, Al Hoceima, and Talassemtane national parks established. Protected area network expands.
Leopard DNA detected in scat in Algeria's Hoggar Mountains — big cats still survive somewhere in North Africa.
PLoS ONE study reveals Barbary lions likely survived until 1960s based on eyewitness interviews. Northern bald ibis reaches 113 breeding pairs.
Two new northern bald ibis breeding colonies discovered on the Atlantic coast — first range expansion in decades.
Northern bald ibis downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered. 147 breeding pairs, 708+ individuals. Population growing.
Rabat Zoo houses ~32 Royal Barbary lions — around half of the estimated 90 worldwide. European breeding programmes expand. Atlas Lion Project proposes reintroduction, but remains unfunded.
Reading Notes
The Roman Debt
Rome did not just watch North African animals die — it engineered their decline. Thousands of Barbary lions, elephants, bears, and leopards were captured and shipped to arenas across the empire. Condemned criminals and gladiators fought them for entertainment. By the time Rome fell, the ecosystem it had plundered was already collapsing. What 19th-century French colonial hunters finished, Roman spectacle had begun seventeen centuries earlier.
The Ibis Miracle
In 1997, fifty-nine breeding pairs of northern bald ibis remained on Earth. All of them in Morocco. The decision to recruit local fishermen as wardens — paying them to protect cliffs they had fished below their entire lives — turned the tide. By 2018, the count was 147 pairs. New colonies appeared for the first time in decades. It is the rarest kind of conservation story: one that worked. The bird that was about to vanish was saved by people who lived next to it.
The Royal Accident
Nobody planned to save the Barbary lion. Sultans kept them for prestige, not conservation. When the royal family was exiled in 1953, the lions were parcelled off to zoos as afterthoughts. Decades later, scientists realised these 21 animals carried the last known Barbary genetics. A captive population of about 90 lions now exists because of political exile and zoo transfers — the most accidental conservation programme in history.
Sources & Methodology
Species data from IUCN Red List assessments and Wikipedia species profiles. Barbary lion research: Black, Fellous, Yamaguchi & Roberts (2013) “Examining the Extinction of the Barbary Lion”, PLoS ONE. Northern bald ibis: BirdLife International / IUCN 2018 assessment; Souss-Massa monitoring data (Oubrou & El Bekkay). Barbary leopard: Mammals Maroc / Cabrera (1932). National park data from Morocco's Haut Commissariat aux Eaux et Forêts et à la Lutte Contre la Désertification (HCEFLCD). Population estimates are editorial estimates compiled from multiple sources and should be treated as approximate. © Dancing with Lions.