Lion Guardians

Category: lion research fieldwork | Date: Oct 12 2007 | By: admin

Yesterday night Seamus, Ernest and Lion Guardian Koikai spent most of their night in the bush in the company of Sangale and a lioness we suspect to be Birdie. She is collared but disappeared for some time. Even from close by, they could not pick up the signal from her collar. We suspect that its battery is dead. Unfortunately, Birdie is still shy and will not allow us to go close to her. So, that night they observed them from a distance till the wee hours of the morning then moved back to camp.

During a game drive, a group from the neighbouring camp came across a dead wildebeest in the plains about 6kms from the camp. The people at the camp are aware about our attempts at catching lions at the south for collaring. One of the challenges we sometimes face is a lack of meat to use as bait. We normally have to wait until an animal has been killed by a predator so we can have the remnants of the carcass. So, when these guys came across a wildebeest lying in the wild, they called the researchers.

Having received the report at around midday, we sped to the scene before vultures tore the carcass away. From a distance we could see tens of vultures arriving at the scene. On arrival however, we were surprised to find the carcass of a fat wildebeest lying largely untouched. The vultures sat in a crowd a few meters away as if to discuss how to share the spoils.

Happily we took off with the wildebeest.

So, tonight, Seamus and Ernest are going to spend another night in the bush trying to capture the female lion, Biridi that Sangale is guarding.

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