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Lion Guardians’ reaction to the Lion poisoning

Category: Community work, Lion Guardian reports, Meet the Lion Guardians, Meet the lions, lion research fieldwork | Date: Jan 16 2008 | By: admin

Recently, we have not been able to put up consistent posts. The reason is that we have been working extra hard out in the field, among the community to get a better understanding of the dynamics behind the death of the two lions on our ranch. We need to do this to be able to hopefully prevent similar cases in the future.

During our time traveling around the ranch, visiting with the communities, we also checked on the remaining lions. We have good news…..Nemasi appears to have given birth! We saw her a few mornings ago near Olbili. She looked very fat; it seems that she is lactating, though we have yet to see the cubs so no hard evidence to support our hunch. We have also had the opportunity to talk to the Lion Guardians and get their responses to the poisoning. We shall be sharing them with you in this and future posts. Here is Koikai’s reaction:

http://www.goear.com/listen.php?v=8717579

We also received news from Koikai that he is a proud new father of a baby boy! He was explaining to us that he now has double responsibility. He has to watch out over his own newborn and over Nemasi’s newborns since Sangale, the cubs’ father, is now absent.

Koikai_running.jpg

Here is Koikai at work

Sangale&Nemasi.jpg

Better days……Nemasi with Sangale before his death.


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7 Responses to “Lion Guardians’ reaction to the Lion poisoning”

F. J. PECHIR, on 16 Jan 2008

Yes, please watch the Nemasi´s cubs!! When the dominant male, in this case Sangale, disappear for any reason from its pride or group, there could be male nomads or established males from nearby prides that will seek to take control of that territory, and, to induce sexual receptivity in the females, they will kill all the cubs! I really wish that Nemasi and her cubs can be safe… I also want to ask you if there are more females in the area, and if they are integrated in a pride? Are there more adult males lions too? Are there spotted hyenas in the area? Hyenas could represent a real mortal danger to the cubs. But if that cubs are newborns they will spent some weeks hidden by their mother in an isolated place, until Nemasi decide to integrate them in her pride if there is such…by the way, where Sangale and the other two lioness a nomad group that establishes in that area or form a subgroup of some other pride? By any chance do you know the origin of their prescence in that place?

Christine C., on 16 Jan 2008

Antony and Seamus — thank you for the update, we have really missed you, but know that the lion poisionings have ramped up your work quite a bit. I still can’t get over it… Anyway, i do hope that Nemasi and her cubs are safe and healthy…and of course the same for Lion Guardian Koikai and his family — congratulations to him on the birth of his son!

Seamus, on 17 Jan 2008

Mr Pechir - I hope that Nemasi and her cubs are safe too. There is one other male in the immediate vicinity, although its unclear what his relationship with Nemasi is. There are no other females that form part of what might be called a “pride”. In general, the lions in this area don’t adhere to the classical (serengeti) definitions of pride structure. There tend to be either single females or small groups comprising a female and her young, distributed through the study area. Hope this answers your question.

Fiona, on 17 Jan 2008

I am very glad that Sangale will live on in Nemasi’s cubs. I was also concerned about another male killing the cubs, but with that concern I recognize that at least that is part of nature, as sad as it is. I can tolerate loss a lot more easily if nature is behind it. I also understand about the importance of being physically out in the ranch doing your best to prevent more loss. That is more important than blogging every day, although it’s always nice to hear from you.

Congratulations to Koikai on his new addition. A new baby is always exciting :)

F. J. PECHIR, on 17 Jan 2008

Thank you Seamus for your kind answer. It looks like the lions in your area are some solitary nomads (males and females) that are trying to reach a permenent territory there. Unfortunately, a single lioness can´t has the same percentage of cubs reared to be weaned than that of a lioness in a group. But, in some special cases, like a shortage of food, single lionesses have a better chance to rear and weaned their cubs. I hope the best for Nemasi and her little ones! Thank you again!

L Riley, on 18 Jan 2008

Congradulations to Koikai on the birth of his son.

Greenmonk Associates : Tracking a Greener Africa: Twitter as social network amplifier, on 18 Jan 2008

[…] things loosely joined, making a difference. picture of Koikai courtesy of WildlifeDirec. If you have a spare tri-band phone he might like it… Posted by […]

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