Category Archives: Conservation

Could lions solve a secondary predator issue in North Africa?

Feral dogs photographed by A. Woodhouse http://africageographic.com/blog/feral-dogs-imfolozi/

The concept of secondary predator effects on degraded ecosystems is well established. If the large carnivores at the top of the ‘food chain’ are eliminated, then species lower down the pecking order are given a free reign to devastate prey species or the vegetation, if they are grazers (Borrvall and Ebenman, 2006; Duffy, 2002). By inference the presence of primary predators controls the trophic levels below them in the ecosystem.

Whilst large carnivores are necessarily rare, from a trophic, or food energy transfer, perspective (Colinvaux, 1990), they appear to have an amplified impact on the behaviour and presence of other species can be a significant moderating effect in ecosystems. A recent study identified that even perceived presence of large carnivores reduces the feeding routines and impact of secondary predators in particular in experiments with racoons (Suraci et al 2016).

Do these observations and phenomena relate in any way to the pressures on ecosystems in North Africa? Clearly, land use by mixed flocks of goats and sheep would be changed (to some extent) by the presence of large carnivores, although how this would affect long term landscape recovery is unclear (without some system to manage those flocks). There also is a suspicion that some Barbary macaque populations are be impacted by predation from feral dogs, particularly causing losses in infant monkeys.

Could lions provide an opportunity to deter overgrazing or the presence of feral dogs in those habitats of Barbary macaques?

Further Reading:

Borrvall, C. and Ebenman, B. (2006) Early onset of secondary extinctions in ecological communities following the loss of top predators. Ecology Letters, 9, 435–42

Butynski, T.M., Cortes, J., Waters, S., Fa, J., Hobbelink, M.E., van Lavieren, E., Belbachir, F., Cuzin, F., de Smet, K., Mouna, M., de Iongh, H., Menard, N. & Camperio-Ciani, A. (2008) Macaca sylvanus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T12561A3359140. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T12561A3359140.en. Downloaded on 26 February 2016.

Colinvaux, P. (1990) Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare. Penguin Books.

Duffy, J.E. (2003) Biodiversity loss, trophic skew and ecosystem functioning. Ecology Letters, 6: 680–687 doi: 10.1046/j.1461-0248.2003.00494.x

Suraci, J.P., Clinchy M., Dill, L.M., Roberts, D. and Zanette L.Y (2016) Fear of large carnivores causes a trophic cascade. Nature Communications, 7, 10698 doi:10.1038/ncomms10698 http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160223/ncomms10698/full/ncomms10698.html

Woodhouse, A. (2014) Feral dogs at iMfolozi. Africageographic, Posted: April 30, 2014 http://africageographic.com/blog/feral-dogs-imfolozi/

Lions in Pakistan or on the shores of the Arabian sea?

Leave a reply

Lions survived in the territories of Pakistan up until the mid 1800s, the last of them believed to be killed in 1842 near Kot Diji in Sindh, so its presence there is essentially ancient history.

However there have been recent rumours of lions being spotted in a national park of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, with observers suggesting that these are animals migrating from India. However the lion stronghold of Gujarat in India (particularly the Gir Forest and the Arabian coastal strip) are hundreds of miles south. These unusual sightings may relate to mis-identification of other animals (such as leopards) or, more speculatively, released animals from clandestine captive collections (the latter has been suggested for leopard sightings in Mediterranean western Turkey in the late 20th Century).

On the rocks in a Gujarat port – ready to take a swim. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7D6G-AhSts

There have been incidents of illegal trade in live African lions into Pakistan in the recent past; how do you get rid of illegal lions? Could that be part of the explanation? In addition of course there are a number of zoos in Pakistan which have captive Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica) in their animal collections, although these rare specimens would most likely be kept properly secure. Nevertheless the fact that lions are present in the peninsular of north-western India raises some interesting sightings. Animals from the Gir forest (landlocked by extensive tracts of agricultural land) sometimes have to disperse.

By moving across agricultural landscapes and areas of human habitation a small but significant number end up living adjacent to industrial sites, within small coastal forest scrub lands and adjacent to busy ports. The spectacle of a lion walking along a beach or being seen swimming in the sea is, despite its apparently improbability, a matter of fact.

Reading:

Anon (2016) Lion spotted in Arabian Sea off Gujarat coast, rescued. Pakistan Telegraph (ANI) Sunday 3rd January 2016 http://www.pakistantelegraph.com/index.php/sid/239929847

Anon (2010) Four lions Imported illegally to Karachi. BBC News South East Asia http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12074775

Khan, H.N. and Craig, T. (2015) In North-west Pakistan big cats are more feared than global terrorists, The Guardian Weekly/Washington Post 19th September 2015.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/19/pakistan-man-eating-leopards-abbottabad

Mulki ,M.A. (2012)A Walk on the Wild Side. The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, January 29^th. http://tribune.com.pk/story/326966/a-walk-on-the-wild-side/

Naqaush, T. (2014) Asiatic lion spotted in AJK national park, DAWN Febraury 5th http://www.dawn.com/news/1085010/asiatic-lion-spotted-in-ajk-national-park

Barbary lion breeding shows improvements

Leave a reply

A recent paper on improving conservation decision making (Black, 2015) includes some of the data used in developing the Moroccan Royal Lion studbook (Black, Yamaguchi, Harland and Groombridge, 2010) as previously gathered by the author with Dr Nobuyuki Yamaguchi (University of Qatar) and Adrian Harland (Aspinall – Port Lympne Wild Animal Park).

Data on productivity (in this case, the number of cubs born) shows that since the initiative to revisit and re-catalogue the lions known to be direct descendents of the King of Morocco’s collection there has been a marked increase in the production of new cubs. The great news is that these are also form well-matched pairs with no further in-breeding.

However the analysis also shows that a greater level of breeding is still needed to bring the natural regeneration of the population under control. Currently there are practical restrictions to achieving this since clearly there are limits to the capacity that zoos have for increasing lion group sizes and for controlling breeding behaviour.

Further Reading:

Black S.A. (2015) System behaviour charts inform an understanding of biodiversity recovery. International Journal of Ecology http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/787925

Black S, Yamaguchi N, Harland A, Groombridge J (2010). Maintaining the genetic health of putative Barbary lions in captivity: an analysis of Moroccan Royal Lions. Eur J Wildl Res 56: 21–31. doi: 10.1007/s10344-009-0280-5

Yamaguchi N, Haddane B. (2002). The North African Barbary lion and the Atlas Lion Project. International Zoo News 49: 465-481.

Was the lion ever native to India?

2 Replies

In 2013 a book was published by Valmik Thapar which presented the idea that both the cheetah and the lion were most probably non-native species in India, introduced as captive animals from Africa or Central Asia, trained or used for Royal entertainment in the many substantial parks across the subcontinent and, with the demise of the various imperial and local royal dynasties between the 1200s and the mid 20th century, feral animals had become established as wild populations, hence the species now being seen as native (and rare – the lion, or extinct -the cheetah).

This is an intriguing idea. The basis for these ideas runs from the lack of early accounts of either lion or cheetah in the region, but the subsequent rise of the follwing occurences in the time since Alexander the Great:

An active series of royal hunting parks and hunitng as a royal passtime with the use of lions and cheetahs being particlualry culturally important
Animals were exported to India from Central Europe and the middle east and also from Africa
The genetics of Indian lions show inbreeding suggesting an originally tiny population (escapee captive animals)
The genetics of captive Asiatic Lions (in the USA) shows traits of African subspecies.
Indian lions are ‘tame’ relative to their African counterparts (including accounts form North Africa)

Thapar and his co-writers concede that they examine this as naturalists and hitorians, rather than from a deep scientific examination of evidence. But the proposal does raise testable questions:

What are the research implications?

Do we understand the genetics of Indian lions relative to (and as different from) African lions? See recent work by Barnett et al. (2014).

Are all Asiatic lions Asiatic-African hybrids? This was the case in American Zoo animals in the 1980s – but those zoos may have mismanaged Asiatic-African pairings in captivity earlier in the 20th century.

What are the conservation implications?

Should Asiatic lions still be conserved? – YES – even if they are non-native to India, they are the last remnants of the lions which once ranged from Egypt to India (i.e. to the banks of the Indus river).

Might Indian lions be close relatives of Barbary Lions? – This is an intriguing possibility (see Barnett et al. 2014).

What about an Indian – Moroccan Royal lions Hybrid? – if Indian lions are ‘tame’ (which is NOT the case with many captive Moroccan Royal lions), then you could out-breed ‘tameness’ and retain an authentic the asiatic (northern) subspecies of lion. Similalry Asiatic lioins could eb used to retain or ‘clean up’ the Moroccan lions if they are wshown to be Barbary/subSaharan hybrids.

There is little reason to accept Thapar’s hypotheses. Improvements in genetic analysis will enable us to better understand lion phylogeny in due course. In the meantime, precaution suggests continued efforts in Indian lion conservation are strongly recommended.

Reading:

Anon (2014) New Genetic Study Reconstructs Distribution History of Lion. Sci-News.com http://www.sci-news.com/genetics/science-distribution-lion-01892.html

Barnett, R. et al. (2014) Revealing the maternal demographic history of Panthera leo using ancient DNA and a spatially explicit genealogical analysis. BMC Evolutionary Biology 14: 70; doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-14-70

Thapar V., Thapar R., and Ansari Y. (2013) Exotic Aliens: the lion and cheetah in India. Aleph, India.

The sixth vision: could the former northern range become a refuge for Panthera leo?

Leave a reply

One perspective on Barbary lion and North Africa revolves around the ‘romantic’ notion of reintroducing this charismatic species back into its former range. A second perspective is more pragmatic and equally visionary; using the species as a focus for driving the restoration of habitats in the region. A third vision, more pragmatic perhaps, would be to drive a tourist industry for economic benefit. A fourth vision is to preserve genetic diversity in Panthera leo or even selectively ‘breeding-back’ the Barbary lion, by retaining the genes held by lions from the Moroccan Royal collection (although this could still be achieved in captivity). A fifth vision would see North Africa developed as a new enclave for Panthera leo persica (currently only extant in India) – from the wild population most closely related to the Barbary lion.

Could there be a sixth vision – to provide an enclave for Panthera leo as climate change disrupts the suitability of existing habitats south of the Sahara? A recent paper shows the risk of decline in current habitats suitable for lions (Peterson et al 2014). Up in the northern strip of Africa, along the Mediterranean coast there are potentially some small enclaves of habitat. Would it be prudent to make these a refuge for lions?

If so, which lions would we put there? What sort of ecosystem should develop as a result (prey, landscape, human use)? Which might be the best locations? What controls might be needed to protect humans, livestock and lions?

Reading:

Peterson A.T., Radocy, T., Hall, E., Peterhans, J.C.K., and Celesia, G.G. (2014) The potential distribution of the Vulnerable African lion Pathera leo in the face of changing global climate. Oryx 06/2014; 48(04):1-10. DOI:10.1017/S0030605312000919

De-extinction: dinosaur to dodo… or at least to the Barbary lion?

3 Replies

Is the prospect of a lion living wild in the Moroccan landscape just fantasy fiction?

The growth in knowledge of genetic technologies has raised the topic of “De-extinction”, the recovery of extinct species. But is it worth spending money and resources to produce a conservation ‘gimmick’, like a resurrected mammoth? This is a question of ethics; the value of a curiosity. But there are practical implications as well; if we are to reintroduce species into the wild, are we really good enough at reintroductions to make this a success (Donlan 2014)?

De-extinction discussions often relate to famous species such as the Woolly Mammoth, Passenger Pigeon, Dodo and Thylacine and are often criticised for the “Jurassic Park” element of the argument. However one step back from those more spectacular proposals are recently lost sub-species including the Barbary Lion (Jones, 2014) as potential ambassadors or mascots for conservation and biodiversity recovery in their lands of origin. This prospect has been the on-off discussion concerning the fate of the lions of the Kings Collection in Morocco for decades (Nowell and Jackson 1996).

However, the argument for this type of work needs to go deeper. Recovery of such a formidable species into the wild requires a transformation in the landscape and in the thinking of local people, including the conservationists themselves to develop a sensible and worthwhile model of reintroduction. Reintroduction must match biology, socio-economics, local culture and politics – and most of these factors do not involve scientific expertise, but skills and knowledge in quite different aspects of work.

Reading:

Donlan, J. (2014) De-extinction in a crisis discipline. Frontiers of Biogeography, 6(1) http://escholarship.org/uc/item/2x70q4nk

Jones, K.E. (2014) From dinosaurs to dodos: who could and should we de-extinct? Frontiers of Biogeography, 6(1) http://escholarship.org/uc/item/9gv7n6d3

Nowell K., and Jackson P. (1996) Wild cats, status survey and conservation action plan. Gland: IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group.

Moroccan Royal Lions: “Who’s Who”

1 Reply

Family tree lions symbols By the end of the 1990s efforts by several zoos to engage in a pan-European breeding programme for lions derived from the King of Morocco’s collection was beginning to fade. Only Port Lympne continued with an active breeding group, and a male from Rabat zoo (number 241 on the diagram opposite) was brought in to reinvigorate a pride which was developed from animals imported from Washington zoo in the 1980s. Up until that point they had reached a point of inbreeding within a family group.

Research led by Black and Yamaguchi identified all the remaining animals of known
Moroccan heritage in zoos worldwide. Aside from the animals in Rabat Zoo (Morocco), all the other descendents were is zoos in Europe, plus two animals in Israel. However there had been no transfers since the early 2000s and those which had occurred had not given rise to new cubs.

The family tree derived from this work allowed potentially suitable (unrelated) pairs to be identified and for breeding transfers to be arranged by interested zoos. This has enabled reinvigoration of the zoo stock.

In the early 200os nearly a quarter of Moroccan Royal lions in European zoos were related to Suliman, the male at Port Lympne (photo: N. Yamaguchi).

Room to move in?

Leave a reply

Picture a valley in North Africa, described by Yamaguchi & Haddane (2002):
“…Between the Middle and High Atlas lies a rocky mountainous area where green oaks dominate the landscape…where the endangered Barbary leopard may still survive… Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus), Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) and wild boars live there, and Cuvier’s gazelles (Gazella cuvieri) and Barbary red deer (Cervus elaphus barbarus) may also be reintroduced…lions may be released into a securely-fenced semi-natural enclosure…to live with minimum human intervention…, releasing them into an open area is out of question… “

In the North African biosphere, the prey biomass densities are much lower than in the savannahs of Sub-Saharan Africa or the dry forests of western India. The Moroccan Atlas is likely, on average, to be able to support probably less than four lions per 100km². In the Gir Forest in Gujarat, India, where domestic livestock as a supplementary prey base, the carrying capacity of lions is estimated at around 15 lions per 100 km² (Banerjee et al., 2013).

Other comparisons with the higher energy, prey dense and open landscape of the Gujarat (where lions can leave the forest for surrounding human-dominated areas in times of food shortfalls) show how constrained the landscape in North Africa would be:

Gir Forest, Gujarat (1500 km²) – 400 lions
Kodinar coastal forest, Gujarat (60 km²) 12+ lions

Translocation of lions in India has been planned for some time. The planned release site in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary (an area of 900 km²) would involve reintroduction of only 5-8 animals intially (with plans to move 1-2 adult males every 5 years out of the sanctuary). So, even in a relatively large and currently established wildlife habitat with a reasonably dense prey base, only a very small number of lions would be released.

Additional complications of home range size and number of groups would be a major constraint for any lion reintroduction in North Africa. Would North African animals live in large prides as cmomonly encountered on the African savannah, in family groups, or would a single lioness holds resource territory while male coalitions attempt to maximize female groups within their range, as in India? (Black et al., 2013; Yadvendradev et al, 2009)?

Whilst having wild lions back in North Africa is a big dream for some, it has practical limitations. And then there are the significant needs of local people…

Reading:

Banerjee K, Jhala YV, Chauhan KS, Dave CV (2013) Living with Lions: The Economics of Coexistence in the Gir Forests, India. PLoS ONE 8(1): e49457. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049457

Black SA, Fellous A, Yamaguchi N, Roberts DL (2013) Examining the Extinction of the Barbary Lion and Its Implications for Felid Conservation. PLoS ONE 8(4): e60174. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0060174

Linares, J.C., Taïqui, L. and Camarero, J.J. (2011) Increasing Drought Sensitivity and Decline of Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica) in the Moroccan Middle Atlas Forests Forests, 2(3), 777-796; doi:10.3390/f2030777

Yamaguchi N, Haddane B. (2002) The North African Barbary lion and the Atlas Lion Project. International Zoo News 49 (321): 465-481.

Yadvendradev, V.J. et al. (2009) Home range and habitat preference of female lions (Panthera leo persica) in Gir forests, India. Biodiversity and Conservation.DOI: 10.1007/s10531-009-9648-9

Lion decline indicates mass extinction

8 Replies

Estimates suggest that today there are around 32,000 to 35,000 lions left. Sixty years ago this figure was somewere between 400,000 and 500,000, so in a lifetime we have seen a decline of 90 percent or more. Over that period the lion population in India (Panthera leo persica) has clung on and grown from just under 200 animals to about 350 – 400 animals today (from a low in the 1890s of about 20 individuals). Even in the 1940s lions were observed as far west as Iran but the entire Middle East no longer is home to these animals. Over this period the North African population has also dissappeared (with the last sightings in the late 1950s).

Worse still, the remaining bulk of population in sub-saharan Africa (see figure below) is patchy and sometimes involves tiny micropopulations, particularly in Central and West Africa, which could easily follow the fate of Middle Eastern and North African populations.

Riggio et al (2012) Densities of lions in Africa

Reading

Black SA, Fellous A, Yamaguchi N, Roberts DL (2013) Examining the Extinction of the Barbary Lion and Its Implications for Felid Conservation. PLoS ONE 8(4): e60174. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0060174

Riggio, J., Jacobson, A., Dollar, L. et al. (2012) The size of savannah Africa: a lion’s (Panthera leo) view.Biodiversity Conservation. DOI 10.1007/s10531-012-0381-4

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/28/we-may-be-on-the-verge-of-the-sixth-mass-extinction/

http://www.livingwithlions.org/AnnualReports/2006-Lion-killing-in-Amboseli-Tsavo-ecosystem.pdf

Human leopard conflict – a classic lose-lose situation

Leave a reply

There have been an increasing number of leopard-human conflicts in recent years across India, possibly due to increasing human land-use encroaching onto leopard habitat. The same is true for other big cat species across the globe. Leopard attacks have been recently reported in Turkey as one example. Few places in the world experience large human population densities alongside major predators as India and Bangladesh. In these areas conflict includes leopard attacks on humans, leopard attacks on livestock, or people attacking leopards (usually retribution).

However, killing of big cats is involved complex motivatioal factors on the part of the people prepard to carry out such an attack (Inskip et al 2014).

Attacks by animals on humans are the most rare and circumstances vary; for example, when natural prey populations are unusually low in times of drought; when an injured animal seeks ‘easier’ prey; when someone has an unfortunate encounter with an animal traversing a human-dominted landscape; or a person’s unexpected encounter at close quarters in the wild. Attacks on livestock can be limited with appropriate security, but are difficult to avoid. The most questinoable area of conflict is human retribution, because it involves a high degree of risks to people. Human injury in such circumstances are common.

People need to better understand predator behaviour to avoid these situations. For example, most retribution attacks would be better managed by letting the animal escape (its most preferred option) without the need for contact.