Fresh findings led by a University of Wyoming graduate student indicate that invasive ants in a Kenyan savanna have prompted shifts in lions’ predatory behavior. As reported today in the journal Science, the investigators discovered that the incursion of big-headed ants at Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy reduces lions’ efficiency in hunting zebras, their primary prey….
After a 20-year absence, a lioness has been spotted in Chad’s Sena Oura National Park, marking a significant milestone for conservation efforts in the region. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature had declared lions as extinct in the park, which is located near Chad’s border with Cameroon. The news of the lioness’s sighting…
South African ungulates, or hooved mammals, react differently to different species of predators. Experiments by a research team have demonstrated that the behavioural responses of ungulates to large predators can shape ecosystem structure and function. Most such studies have concentrated on the impacts of either just one large carnivore, or all as a whole, rather…
The predation of livestock by carnivores, and the retaliatory killing of carnivores as a result, is a major global conservation challenge. Such human-wildlife conflicts are a key driver of large carnivore declines and the costs of coexistence are often disproportionately borne by rural communities in the global south. While current approaches tend to focus on…
New research published this month indicates that lion populations in Africa may be lower than current estimates suggest. The research, a collaboration involving University of Queensland and Griffith University, published in Frontiers in Ecology & Evolution,and Ecological Solutions and Evidence, found that current lion counting methods for research/conservation purposes may be overestimating lion numbers and densities. Lead author…