Using Google's high-resolution satellite technology, Duke University researchers evaluated African savannas suitable for lions and counted the lion population, finding only 32,000 animals left in the wild and rapidly shrinking habitat. Over the last 50 years, three-quarters of habitat has disappeared, the lion population has declined by two-thirds, and only 10 out of the 67 identified areas suitable for sustaining lion populations are sufficiently protected, according to the study.