In our latest blog, Lion Guardians’ Research Scientist Nadia de Souza announces some exciting news for our program. We are thrilled to be one of the grantees of EarthRanger’s inaugural Conservation Technology Award! Technology has always been central to our work, as the Lion Guardians model is based on blending traditional ecological knowledge – a…
research
Nentepesi: As Iconic As Her Name
With nearly 250 lions roaming our ecosystem, it can be hard to keep up with them all. In this post, Philip Briggs provides an update on a group we’ve keenly followed for years. In 2018, we enjoyed observing a trio of subadults – two sisters and a brother – disperse away from their natal range…
Case Study: Moon Phases & Proactive Conflict Mitigation
To protect lions and communities, it is critical to respond quickly when human-wildlife conflict erupts as well as to anticipate conflict before it even happens. Previous scientific research has found that lions’ activity patterns, attack rates, and hunting success vary across different phases of the moon, so we decided to dig into our own data…
A Quest to Understand Lion Killing
Last year, our Program Manager Luke Maamai successfully completed his Master’s thesis in Conservation Biology at University of Kent. Below, Luke shares some main findings from his research, which offers new hope for lions in our ecosystem, and guidance for how we can continue to enable coexistence in a changing landscape. In order to understand…
Lost Livestock Research Published
Our latest research has been published! Here, our Office and Data Manager John Merishi, who is Maasai, shares his perspective on the research and why it is so important. Livestock are central to Maasai culture and life. Pastoralists consider livestock to be their ‘bank account’, since they sell cows and goats to pay bills such…
The art of tracking!
The Lion Guardians have been conducting ‘spoor counts’ for almost a year now (spoor is a word meaning animal tracks) as part of their weekly routine. Each Guardian has two set routes of roughly 6km long and he walks each route once a week. From the very beginning of the route to the end, the…
Child attacked by lion
A child has been attacked and injured by a lion near Amboseli National Park. The young child was herding goats when he wandered close to a female lioness hiding in long grass with her young cubs. When he came too close she jumped out of the grass and attacked him. It seems she was trying…