Research not only supports greater understanding of lions, but, when appropriately applied, can also help mitigate and prevent human-lion conflict. In partnership with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior researchers Dr. Genevieve Finerty and Dr. Natalia Borrego, the Lion Rangers are embarking on an exciting new research program examining fine-grain lion movements and behavior.
This innovative program is bringing a new type of GPS/satellite collars, designed by Dr. Finerty in partnership with Vectronix Aerospace, will be recording lion movements every second, as well as lion vocalizations and other movements. Deployment of these collars is being piloted on all (six) members of the Omukutu pride, residing in the Anabeb and Omatendeka conservancies. These five females and one subadult male primarily reside within the Anabeb and Omatendeka conservancies. Over recent months they have primarily been hunting zebra in the Khowareb Schlucht (Omukutu) area, though originated further south in the Omatendeka mountains. The pride is well known to the Anabeb Lion Rangers, who have spent extensive time monitoring the group in preparation for this collaring operation.
Over three days, the Lion Rangers, research team, and Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) regional staff, and MEFT veterinary staff worked round-the-clock to collar all six lions. Known to be moving through the river area, tracking revealed the group near a lagoon, drinking and avoiding contact with a local elephant cow. During one night the team collared five of the six lions, securing the final female the following day. This operation went smoothly thanks to the hard work and cooperation of the entire time. Since then, the new collars have been integrated into our Early-Warning System, with lion movements coming into our central server and geofence alerts going out to the community. Thanks to Dr. Finerty and Wide Horizons Aerial Technologies for working to integrate these new collars into our system so quickly.
We look forward to the interesting data coming in from these collars. Thanks to the hard work of the whole international team to make this exciting new program a reality! More updates to follow.
