SHOMPOLE WILDLIFE VENTURES SAFARIS

ENJOY LIFE IN THE WILD

BASIC FACTS ABOUT LIONS – LIFESPAN 10 – 14 YRS LTD

Renowned for its majesty and nicknamed "the king of the jungle," the lion

possesses both beauty and strength. Lions vary in color but typically sport

light yellow-brown coats. Mature male lions are unique among big cats due

the thick brown or black manes that encircle their necks and protect them

while fighting.

Shompole conservancy holds on as one of the few places left on earth where

wildlife still lives comparatively undisturbed, in the numbers that once

roamed the plains and forests of Africa. More interesting this wildlife coexist

with the local maasai of shompole.

Diet

Lions consume a wide variety of prey, from wildebeest, impala, zebra, giraffe, buffalo and wild hogs to sometimes rhinos and hippos. They will also feed on smaller animals such as hares, birds and reptiles. Lions are also known to attack elephants when food is scarce.

Buffalloo

Zebra Giraffe

Elephant Eland

Population

The lion population in Africa has been reduced by half since the early 1950s. Today, fewer than 21,000 remain in all of Africa. Lion taking water at conservation water hole. The number of lions has increase from 10 lions to 100 since we started conservation in shompole in 2001 upto 2015.

Weight 330-500 lbs (150-227 kg) (males).

BehaviorDid You Know?

Both male and female lions roar, and that roar can be heard over five miles away!

The only social member of the cat (Felidae) family, lions live in large groups called "prides," consisting of about 15 lions. Related females and their young make up the majority of the pride. A single male, or sometimes a small group of 2-3 males, will join a pride for an indefinite period, usually about 3 years or until another group of males takes over.

Lions within a pride are often affectionate and, when resting, seem to enjoy good fellowship with lots of touching, head rubbing, licking and purring. The males are territorial, and will roar and use scent markings to establish their domains.

Females do almost all of the hunting. They are mainly nocturnal and work in teams to stalk and ambush prey. Lions inhabit grassy plains, savannahs, open woodlands and scrub country. These landscapes allow the hunters to creep stealthily through vegetation and leap upon their unsuspecting prey.

Male lion

ReproductionDid You Know?

Lions are the second largest living feline species, second only to the tiger.

Mating Season: Throughout the year.Gestation: Around 110 days.Litter size: 3-4 cubs.Young cubs are vulnerable to predation by hyenas, leopards and black-backed jackals. The cubs begin hunting at 11 months but remain with their mother for at least two years.

THREATS TO LIONSLions are facing an indirect threat from climate change called co-infection. Lions periodically face outbreaks of the disease distemper, and usually weather them with little mortality. However, distemper outbreaks in 1994 and 2001 caused massive die-offs. Researchers found that the key environmental factor in the 1994 and 2001 epidemics was the occurrence of a severe drought.

One result of this drought was that both the lions’ prey, weakened with malnutrition, became heavily infested with ticks, which in turn infested the lions as they fed. The ticks, it turned out, carried a blood parasite that rendered the less able to cope with canine distemper virus, and the combination of the two diseases killed many more lions than either disease commonly would acting on its own. Droughts such as the ones that led to deadly co-infection in lions are predicted to become more commonplace as the climate warms.

Lions are also facing many human threats such as population growth and agricultural expansion resulting in loss of natural habitat, as well as hunting, poisoning and poaching by livestock ranchers.

Reasons for Hope

The steepest challenge that lions currently face is that farmer and ranchers have no economic reason for not poisoning or killing them. Conservation groups are working to develop strategies such as lion proof bomas, which are natural thorny enclosures where ranchers keep their livestock at night, and prevent livestock deaths, reducing or eliminating the need to kill lions because of livestock depredation.

Lions are also becoming more economically viable as a tourist attraction, bringing in revenue to these countries. Conservation groups are using the rising tourism to see if they are able to allocate ranchers a percentage of this tourist money as an incentive to let lions continue to roam and flourish once again.