Big Local Progress on Wildlife Poisoning

Recently, a powerful National Geographic article depicting wildlife poisoning in Africa featured our work and that of many conservation partners, as well as the Kenya Wildlife Service.  And while poisoning is a critically important conservation issue, we would like to share that we actually experience very little poisoning in the Amboseli-Tsavo group ranches where we…

Planting Seeds for the Future

Last week, we held an outreach event at a local primary school. Here’s a dispatch about the event from our office manager Merishi. The event was a follow up of the previous meeting that was held during the World Lion Day. During the first meeting, Lion Guardians and the participants agreed to participate in a…

How Some Lions Learn a Dangerous Habit

Like some other smart and social species, lions often learn from each other. This so-called “social learning” is generally advantageous for animals, since it enables helpful behaviors to spread through groups; dolphins learn from their mothers to use sponges as tools, monkeys learn to wash sweet potatoes from other members of their troop, and fish…

Familiar Faces in the Eselenkei Conservancy

In January of this year, we were surprised to find two young males, Gurme and Lormesasu, entering the heart of our handsome reigning king Martii’s territory. These teenagers have dispersed from the slopes of the Chyulu Hills, nearly 65 kilometers away. We are pleased to see them moving safely across the ecosystem and – as…

KWS Poisoning Response Protocol Launched!

This past week at the National Lion & Hyena Strategy Meeting at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Headquarters in Nairobi, KWS formally launched the Response Protocol to Wildlife Poisoning Incidents. Poisoning is a major threat to Kenya’s wildlife, particularly to lions, vultures, hyenas, and other animals that scavenge. This response protocol will help organizations across…

Guardians: Defenders of the Community

Murrans [Maasai warriors] are tasked with defending all those in their community, and Guardians embody this role – they protect people, livestock, lions, and more. Our office and data manager Merishi sent us an update on one recent event where a Guardian went above and beyond to keep his community safe and intact. On the…

Meoshi’s on the Move

Meoshi – the amicable daughter of notorious Selenkay – is well-known throughout the region. Although not quite as bold or ambitious as her mother, she is also a problem lion herself. Meoshi has spent most of her adult life in the Selenkay Conservancy, only occasionally moving beyond the borders of Eselenkei Group Ranch. For the…

Meoshi’s on the Move

Meoshi – the amicable daughter of notorious Selenkay – is well-known throughout the region. Although not quite as bold or ambitious as her mother, she is also a problem lion herself. Meoshi has spent most of her adult life in the Selenkay Conservancy, only occasionally moving beyond the borders of Eselenkei Group Ranch. For the…

Lions Return to Kimana Sanctuary

The verdant, beautiful 5000+ acres that make up the Kimana Sanctuary used to support a good number of lions; the big cats relied on its year-round water and used it as a critical link between large swaths of prime territory. But beginning in the 1990s, the lions disappeared, likely as a result of increasing human…