|
About | Contact | Mongabay on Facebook | Mongabay on Twitter | Free newsletter |
|
|
Giant population of lions could live war-torn regionmongabay.comJanuary 30, 2009 The study, which was conducted by Adrian Treves of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and colleagues from Wildlife Conservation Society and the Panthera Foundation, relied on aerial surveys of lion prey — buffalo, warthog, waterbuck and other ungulates — which were then used to estimate the region's potential lion population. The forecasts closely matched results from earlier ground surveys in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park where lions have been relatively well-protected, though their abundance has been slipping in recent years despite growing prey numbers.
Still conservationists are hopeful that protective measures and outreach programs to help pastoralists reduce livestock losses to lions could turn the area into one of a "stronghold" for African lions. "Those two protected areas that straddle the frontier could be the stronghold for lions in central Africa – the largest population," said University of Wisconsin-Madison environmental studies professor Adrian Treves, the study's lead author. "Therefore, (the population) is critically important, because the lion is now considered threatened throughout Africa." "We're providing a vision of what could be," he continued. "Uganda could maybe have a third of those 900-plus lions, and they're an incredible source of tourism revenue. So we're hoping that’s an incentive the government will respond to." "I don’t want to see lions disappear from Queen Elizabeth National Park the way that hyenas almost did, and the way cheetahs were eliminated from parts of Uganda. That's a fate we need to avoid." Adrian Treves, Andrew J. Plumptre, Luke T.B. Hunter and Joel Ziwa. Identifying a potential lion Panthera leo stronghold in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, and Parc National des Virunga, Democratic Republic of Congo. Oryx , Volume 43, Issue 01, January 2009, pp 60-66 doi:10.1017/S003060530700124X Related articles Lion die-offs in Africa linked to global warming (06/26/2008) Scientists have linked climate shifts in East Africa to die-offs in lion populations in 1994 and 2001. The research is published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE. Africa's lions are disappearing (03/25/2008) The lion is Africa's best known carnivore. Once widely abundant across the continent, recent surveys show that lion populations have plunged from over 100,000 individuals to around 23,000 over the past century. The reason? Lions are poisoned, shot, and speared by locals who see them as a threat to livestock. While lion populations in protected areas remain relatively healthy, conservationists say that without urgent measures, lions may disappear completely from unprotected areas. The Kilimanjaro Lion conservation Project is working to avoid this fate by developing practical measures to encourage coexistence between people, livestock and predators. Key to the effort is reducing livestock losses to lions. Leela Hazzah, a field researcher with the project, says the "Lion Guardians" program at Mbirikani Ranch in Kenya has proved remarkably successful: not a single lion has been killed since its inception in November 2006. The program employs Maasai warriors to monitor lions and help local communities prevent attacks on livestock. Saving big cats depends on science, practical interventions (05/21/2007) Big cats are some of Earth's largest and most threatened predators. Long persecuted as perceived threats to livestock and humans, hunted for their skins and purported medicinal values, and losing critical habitat to deforestation and conversion for agriculture, big cat populations have dwindled around the world for the past century. Given these trends, it should come as no surprise that big cats have become the focus of conservation efforts. Not only are large predators often the most vulnerable to human pressures and the first to disappear from ecosystems, but efforts to conserve them effectively help protect thousands of other species that share their habitat. At the forefront of these efforts in Dr. Luke Hunter, a biologist with the Wildlife conservation Society (WCS) where he heads their Great Cats Program. In a May 2007 interview with mongabay.com, Hunter discussed strategies for conserving carnivores and offered insight for students interested in pursuing careers in conservation science. View Larger Map
Tags: lions wildlife dr congo congo poaching hunting cattle ranching africa east africa parks protected areas carnivores big cats conservation in-situ conservation great cats cats mammals predators environment green Environmental news index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home Advertisements:
 T-shirts, shopping bags, calendars, and more.
|
|
|
DON'T LIKE ADS? Become a mongabay supporter WEEKLY NEWSLETTER RECENT FEATURES
POPULAR PAGES Photos
BOOKS BY MONGABAY AUTHORS
FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 
HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS 
|
| |
|
Copyright mongabay 2010 Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect, an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region. Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant. |
