Photo by amivitale / Hooded, sedated lions are transported and unloaded in Mozambique as villagers watch. Lions’ eyes don’t close when the animals are sedated, so they’re fitted with hoods to protect their eyes from the light. These lions were part of an international transfer of 24 lions from South Africa, the largest lion relocation ever undertaken. After years of civil war in Mozambique, lions were all but lost in the Zambezi Delta region. Just a few decades ago, prides of lions once roamed the game-rich wetlands. But their numbers were decimated when their prey was overhunted during the drawn-out Mozambican civil wars, which raged from 1977 to 1992. Across Africa, a similar decline is occurring, with wild lion numbers dropping 42 percent in the last two decades, mostly as a result of habitat loss. This translocation has restored the apex predator to its ancestral lands, and it is estimated that the population could grow to as many as 500 within 15 years. Already, more than 35 cubs ...