Counting lions in Kruger National Park is essential for their conservation and long-term survival. Alison Govaerts, a doctoral student in Conservation Ecology at , in collaboration with the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and South African National Parks, recently concluded a lion spatial capture-recapture survey.
This project, funded by the Lion Recovery Fund, focused on estimating lion populations in central Kruger.
Identifying individual lions can be challenging, as they lack distinct markings like spots found on other big cats. Govaerts and her team rely on each lion’s unique whisker spots, which act like fingerprints. These spots remain the same throughout the lion’s life and are key to ensuring accurate counts without double-recording individuals. By photographing lions and cataloguing them, the team could track sex ratios, ages, and population structures across the park.
Lion populations across Africa are vulnerable due to threats like habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, and climate change. Govaerts stresses that these factors can drive population declines faster than anticipated, and lions cannot easily recover from significant losses.
Understanding how many lions exist is critical for designing effective conservation strategies.
The next step in lion conservation involves increasing connectivity between parks, allowing lions to migrate, promote gene flow, and adapt to changing environments. The survey also highlights the importance of involving local communities in conservation efforts.
Govaerts emphasizes that long-term conservation success hinges on collaboration with people living near protected areas.
With the survey now concluded, the results will offer valuable insights into lion distribution within Kruger National Park, guiding future efforts to safeguard this iconic species.
