Tag archives for lions
Posted by Photograph by Beverly Joubert The petition filed with the U.S. Department of Interior by a coalition of wildlife groups to list African lions as Endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act has been welcomed by Dereck Joubert, director of the new National Geographic film The Last Lions. “This petition comes at a vitally important time…
National Geographic Big Cats Initiative grantee Anne Kent Taylor sent another dispatch from the field in Kenya’s Maasai Mara region. Her account details life among Africa’s wild big cats and the growing conflict between humans and animals competing for the same resources. Anne Kent Taylor’s National Geographic grant supports her work in providing chainlink fencing…
Anne Kent Taylor continues her reports from the field in Kenya, where she and local collaborators have been providing chainlink fencing to farmers to shield their cattle, goats and other animals from big predators. In the face of “horrific” predation of livestock, the fencing program has been achieving very encouraging results. One farmer reported watching…
Anne Kent Taylor reports from rural Kenya that her project to help livestock farmers fence their animals at night has put barriers around 200 bomas–and so far there have been no reports of predation in the protected enclosures. The work is supported by the National Geographic Big Cats Initiative, an initiative by the National geographic…
Investors in sport hunting in Uganda’s game parks have up to January next year to stop shooting wild animals for fun, The Uganda news site The New Vision reported recently. According to The New Vision: “This follows a resolution from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to cancel hunting concessions offered years ago to the wildlife…
The lion has long been a traditional symbol of the United Kingdom. Lions feature prominently in the royal coat of arms. The touring rugby football team representing the UK is nicknamed “the Lions.” The UK was often portrayed in political cartoons as the British Lion, similar to the Russian Bear or the American Eagle. So it…
In Tanzania’s Tarangire ecosystem, lions and the Maasai people live alongside one another outside the borders of Tarangire and Lake Manyara National Parks. People and lions come into direct and frequent conflict when the big cats attack and kill the Maasai’s livestock and harm people. Intense retaliatory killing of lions occurs on a regular basis.…
Continuing her blogging from the field, in the Maasai Mara in Kenya, National Geographic Big Cats Initiative grantee Anne Kent Taylor reports that to date some two hundred livestock enclosures have been fenced against predators–and thusfar there has not been a single report of a protected animal taken by a big cat. “This is so…
Photo by Mehgan Murphy, Smithsonian’s National Zoo. The four lion clubs born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. on August 31 had their first physical exam today. All four cubs are believed to be female, according to the vets, but it is difficult to determine their gender with certainty at such a young age, the zoon…
If cats really do have nine lives, the big wild cats of Africa are probably down to their last one or two. But help may be on the way, in the form of an ambitious new program to explore, test, and develop successful strategies to restore and safeguard the continent’s lions, cheetahs, and leopards. The…
Lions may be under pressure in the wild in Africa, but in the capital of the United States their population just expanded. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo welcomed this year’s second litter of African lion (Panthera leo) cubs, the zoo said today. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s 5-year-old lion Shera gave birth to a litter of 4…
With a hundred bomas, the traditional livestock enclosures of East Africa, now fenced against predators, it’s time to set the baseline of data to be collected to monitor the success of a National Geographic Big Cats Initiative project to reduce the conflict between wild lions and herders in Kenya’s Maasai Mara region. Big Cats Initiative grantee Anne…
Building better bomas
Posted by Stuart Pimm on August 25, 2010 National Geographic Big Cats Initiative (BCI) scientist Stuart Pimm ventures into East Africa to study bomas, the traditional shelters constructed to corral livestock. He visits two BCI grantees working with local herders to fortify bomas with wire and spiny plants in so-called ”living fences.” The hope is that if farm animals can be protected their owners will have…
The National Geographic Big Cats Initiative funds researchers and conservationists attempting to restore and protect big cats in the wild. In this third post from the field, Big Cats Initiative grantee Anne Kent Taylor wraps up the account of her recent visit to herders in the Masai Mara district of Kenya, where she has been…
Can wild cats and dogs be the guardians of vital sources of freshwater and other natural resources for humans? Conservationists pressing for urgent protection of the world’s last big cats and rare canids in the wild think this is one of many good reasons why the U.S. Congress should help protect such keystone species before…
In this second post from the field, National Geographic Big Cats Initiative grantee Anne Kent Taylor reports on how her work to provide chainlink fencing to livestock farmers in rural Kenya is successfully keeping lions and other large predators at bay. Taylor is using her Big Cats Initiative grant to mitigate the conflict between predators…
This is the first in a regular series of blog posts about what’s being done to help the world’s last big cats survive in the wild. It focuses on the work of National Geographic grantee Anne Kent Taylor, the construction of predator-proof livestock enclosures in prime big cat habitats in Kenya’s Maasai Mara region. But first…
By Leon Marshall Johannesburg–To most of us the mere thought of sipping a concoction in which animal bones soaked for a lengthy period is revolting. Yet, even in these supposedly enlightened times, the clamor for so-called tiger-bone wine in China is such that brewers are importing lion bones from South Africa as a legally obtainable…
By Leon Marshall Johannesburg–Thousands of visitors from many parts of the world have been converging on South Africa to see which of the teams will be taking home the coveted 2010 Football World Cup. At least some of them will be taking home trophies of their own, in the form of lions and other predators…
The Serengeti road to disaster
Posted by Stuart Pimm on June 18, 2010 By Stuart Pimm What comes to mind when you think of Africa? During the World Cup, perhaps thousands of vuvuzelas sounding like a swarm of very angry bees as fans cheer their team. But other than that? Surely huge herds of animals walking across vast, open plains. I arrived in South Africa, in 1996, to…
NG Weekend: Why Mammoths Didn’t Freeze
Posted by Ford Cochran on May 28, 2010 This week on National Geographic Weekend radio, host Boyd Matson speaks with guests about woolly mammoths, orphaned gorillas, Asiatic lions, Florida gators, laser archaeology, quirky festivals, Traveler on the iPad, and life in a one-room cabin. Hour 1 Why would anyone choose to live in a 12-foot by 12-foot cabin without running water or electricity?…
By James Robertson, National Geographic Digital Media Several news outlets are reporting that a baby female deer jumped into a female lion enclosure at the Smithsonian National Zoo, in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. Unfortunately, the deer had to be euthanized due to its injuries. Several onlookers with video cameras captured the drama and posted it on…
Big cats are in trouble, from lions in Kenya to snow leopards in the Himalaya, the National Geographic Society said in a statement today. “The icons of the natural world–lions, cheetahs, leopards, jaguars and other top felines–are disappearing, victims of habitat loss and degradation as well as conflicts with humans. NGS photo of African lion…
Visiting Lions At Home
Posted by Amy Bucci of NG Staff on October 9, 2009 Dereck and Beverly Joubert, National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence, have spent nearly three decades living alongside Africa’s lions and leopards. Working out of a tent or truck, they spend months at a time observing and learning about these top predators. With a collaborative storytelling style that weaves together Beverly’s photography and sound recordings with Dereck’s film footage…
Jouberts, NatGeo Launch Big Cats Initiative
Posted by Ford Cochran on October 8, 2009 Wildlife filmmakers, conservationists, and National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert appeared with Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today Show this morning to announce the Big Cats Initiative—a campaign to rally public support and bolster conservation efforts for lions, leopards, and other large feline species in the wild worldwide. “The bad news,” said Dereck, is that…
