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Verspreiding van leeuwen vs menselijke conflicten

De verspreiding van leeuwen is sterk afgenomen over de tijd. Ook kwamen menselijke conflicten in deze periode steeds vaker voor in Afrika. Maar wat hebben deze twee processen nu voor effect op elkaar?

Stichting Leo heeft verschillende kaarten gemaakt waarop we de verspreiding van leeuwen, weergegeven met verschillende soorten menselijke conflicten. We hopen dat deze informatie zal helpen bij het identificeren van aandachtsgebieden voor de monitoring en bescherming van deze leeuwen populaties

Alle kaarten zijn te vinden op de DEZE specifieke pagina voor dit project!

Artikel gepubliceerd! Divergent trends of large carnivore populations within the Bénoué Complex, North Cameroon, shown by long-term fine-scale monitoring

Stichting Leo is blij te kunnen melden dat de resultaten van onze grote carnivooronderzoeken in Noord-Kameroen eindelijk gepubliceerd zijn!

In deze studie laten we de langetermijn trends zien van grote carnivoorpopulaties in ruimte en tijd. Deze nieuwe ‘baseline’ is essentieel voor het bepalen van de toekomstige strategiën voor de natuurbescherming in het gebied. We danken onze ‘lion guards’ voor fantastische werk bij het verzamelen van alle gegevens in het veld en alle auteurs en co-auteurs bij het verzamelen van alle gegevens en het analyseren van de data voor dit belangrijke artikel. Ten slotte is dit onderzoek alleen mogelijk geweest met financiële hulp van US Fish andWildlife Service, Wereld Natuur Fonds en Prins Bernhard Natuur Fonds!

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Onderzoek naar grote carnivoren in 2019 en 2020; Studenten rapporten

Afgelopen jaar hebben verschillende studenten van de Universiteit van Antwerpen onderzoek gedaan naar leeuwen Meru NP in Kenia en Tijgers in Chitwan NP in India. Deze onderzoeken werden gesteund door Stichting Leo. Ondertussen zijn de rapporten af, en we willen de resultaten graag met jullie delen door middel van onderstaande samenvattingen.

Stefanie Kelchtermans – Diet study of the tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in Chitwan National Park, Nepal, with specific focus on the buffer zone and the surrounding areas, in relation with human-wildlife conflicts.

Habitat destruction, prey depletion and human-carnivore conflicts are all important factors contributing to the decline of large carnivores. This study intents to analyze the diet of the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in Chitwan National Park, Nepal, by identifying 47 prey items from 43 tiger scats. The diet of the tiger was compared between three zones under different management including core area (CA), buffer zone (BZ) and corridor forest (CO). The majority of scats were found in the CA (73.07%). Tigers in CNP fed upon eight different mammal species. Chital (Axis axis) was the major prey with a frequency of 57.45% of the tigers’ diet, followed by wild boar (17.02%) (Sus scrofa). No livestock was consumed by tigers in CNP during this study. A diet comparison of tiger and leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), revealed that the diet of leopards consisted of a larger portion of livestock (10%) compared to tigers (0%). This study also focused on the impact of human-tiger conflicts during the last five years in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. The questionnaire-survey indicated that the western section of the buffer zone experienced more livestock depredation, of which tigers are mainly responsible for losses. The majority of attacks occurred during the night (100%), mainly during winter (63.64%). The likelihood of depredation on livestock decreased with increasing distance from the park boundary and, light/fire significantly influenced tiger depredation. The use of protection measures (shepard dog, noise, protection enclosure) appeared not to be significantly influencing the number of attacks. Notable it that regardless of the educational level of local respondents, 93.33% have a positive perception towards large carnivore conservation. To conclude, conflict mitigating measures should prioritize the corridor forest and buffer zone over core area to reduce the economic loss, inflicted by livestock depredation. The conservation actions on the long term can only be effective if enforcement of regulations is combined with education and the active involvement of local communities.

Lees hier de thesis van Stefanie

Gert-Jan Goeminne – Movements and home ranges of translocated and resident lions (Panthera leo melanochaita) in relation to the translocation potential in Meru National Park, Kenya.

The number of human-wildlife conflicts has steadily increased in recent years, due to habitat loss and growing human populations. Translocation of problem animals has often been suggested as a possible solution, because of its non-lethal character and relative cost-efficiency. The location of release and pre-release handling (soft vs. hard release) are considered to be the most important factors for translocations to be successful. In this thesis, differences in behaviour between resident lions and translocated lions were examined for Meru National Park (MNP) in Kenya, a park regularly used by Kenyan Wildlife Services (KWS) as a translocation site for problem lions. Additionally, an ecological translocation suitability analysis for lion translocations was performed. Both the movements and home ranges of resident and translocated lions were compared, based on the data of five satellite collared lions. For the home ranges both the home range size and the time of establishment were compared. The ecological suitability analysis was performed using different ecological variables to quantify the ecological suitability of different areas in the park. The weight of each variable was adapted from literature and later optimized with Bayesian statistics. Home ranges and movements differed strongly between resident and translocated lions with the exception of one translocated male, which showed similar behaviour to resident lions.This male was observed to have joined a local resident pride. The two other problem lions showed large movements outside the park and both died within a few months. The developed method for the optimization of the ecological suitability analysis seemed to be useful and could be a possible tool to determine the translocation potential of a park. However, to give more reliable results, a more extensive data set would be needed, in order to improve the outcome of the method for the future.

Lees hier de thesis van Gert Jan

Kennedy Kakiri – Ecology and conservation of the African Lion (Panthera leo) in and around Meru National Park, Kenya

My research project covered a study on lion population size, pride structure, reproductive success, foraging success, distribution and factors influencing human-lion interactions in the MNP. Data on lion presence were collected during transect counts and through direct opportunistic searches and observations, while data on human-lion interactions were collected through a questionnaire survey that was administered in nine villages (sub-locations) around the park. Results show a lion density of 6.8 lions/km2 and an estimated lion population size of 31 individuals. I identified four lion prides in the park. The pride structure seems to be influenced by prey availability and seasonal fluctuations of water and prey in and around the MNP. Attitudes towards carnivores are predominantly influenced by livestock ownership and level of education. Livestock husbandry practices, particularly the height of the boma fence and the type of livestock enclosure (boma) also influence livestock loss and mortality.

The questionnaire survey showed that human-lion conflicts mainly occur near the north-eastern boundary of the MCA, which is unfenced. The frequency of reported lion conflict incidences in the area peaks around August which is also the driest month of the year in the MCA and the month with the least number of lion observation sightings inside the park. Livestock raiding behaviour therefore seems to be mainly influenced by lion distribution in and around the park, the presence of livestock and livestock husbandry practices such as the type and height of the boma fence as well as the influence of seasonality. Other livestock husbandry practices (such as the use of flashlights, adult herders/guards and guard dogs) also reduce livestock depredation, although habituation to flashlights reduces the effectiveness of the flashlights and the Muslim pastoralists in the area (who also own the majority of livestock lost to carnivores) do not use guard dogs due to religious beliefs.

Lees hier de thesis van Kennedy

Mateo Bal – Lion (Panthera leo melanochaita) diet in relation to prey preference and density in Meru National Park, Kenya

The African lion (Panthera leo) plays a key role in savannah ecosystems by directly and indirectly regulating trophic structure. Their foraging behavior has frequently been described as opportunistic, but often reveals a distinct preference for certain prey species that are energetically more profitable. This research project focussed on the population structure and diet of lions in Kenya’s Meru National Park. Data were collected from February until April 2019 and contribute to the PhD research of MSc Luka Narisha. A total of 28 lions were identified during fieldwork, indicating a lion density of 2.2 adult lions per 100 km2. Transect counts of potential prey species in the park revealed that Kirk’s dik-dik (Madoqua kirkii) had the highest relative abundance of all prey species (50.89%), while African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) contributed the most to the total prey biomass (33.94%). Based on carcass counts and microscopic prey hair analysis from lion scats, African buffalo and plains zebra were found to be the principal prey species of the lions in Meru National Park. Few hairs of livestock were found in the lion scats, which indicates a low level of livestock raiding. Prey preference analysis using Jacobs’ Index showed that lions had a high prey preference for African buffalo and plains zebra, but Grevy’s zebra appeared to be the most preferred prey species. Lions did not seem to have a significant preference or avoidance for selected prey body mass ranges. Overall, results from this study indicate that Meru National Park hosts a healthy lion population in a relatively undisturbed ecosystem, but further research is needed to eliminate remaining uncertainties and monitor the prey and lion populations in view of climate change.

Lees hier de thesis van Mateo Bal

Amy montagne – Investigating the decline of the African lion population in Lake Nakuru National Park using diet analysis

During the last decades the global African lion (Panthera leo, L. 1758) population has decreased rapidly. In Lake Nakuru National Park (LNNP) in Kenya this decline has also been observed. One of the possible reasons of this decline is the increasing African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) population in LNNP. Large herds can cause danger for lions in hunting attempts and result in deaths. The pressure of the African buffaloes can result in prey switching towards smaller prey species and species such as reptiles, birds and very small mammals (<5kg). Hence, by investigating the foraging behaviour and predator-prey interactions of the lions in LNNP it can be possible to get insight into factors that are causing the decrease of these lions. This study assessed the foraging behaviour in LNNP, with the use of three different methods of diet analysis: carcass counts, hair morphology analysis and DNA analysis. This study especially focusses on the effect of the large population of the African buffalo in LNNP. Does the diet of the African lion in LNNP indeed reflect an avoidance of the African buffalo compared to the lions in the nearby wildlife conservancy (Soysambu Conservancy, SC)? Furthermore, this study investigates whether this possible pressure results in prey switching. This study showed that the current lion population in LNNP is still in decline (with a decrease from approximately 20 to 9 lions in two years) and that the African buffalo is one of the drivers for this decline. This study confirmed that there is a high avoidance for African buffalo by lions in LNNP, while this is not observed with the lions from SC. The general diet in LNNP and SC were very different. Lions in LNNP consumed a larger amount of species under 100kg, as the preferred weight is around 350kg, this can indicate a possible prey switch towards smaller prey. DNA analysis showed that slightly more non-mammalian prey species and very small mammals were eaten in LNNP than in SC, of which most were positive for reptiles. These results imply that park management should reduce the number of African buffaloes in LNNP to counter the decline of lions in LNNP.  

Lees hier de thesis van Amy Montagne

Haviken ringen op de Hoge Veluwe

In het kader van de jaarlijkse Globe Guards veiling verzorgt Stichting Leo een unieke ervaring: het ringen van haviken op de Hoge Veluwe. Als dank voor een financiële bijdrage aan één van onze projecten voor de bescherming van  luipaarden en viskatten in Nepal, was het voor drie sponsoren en Leo bestuurslid Laura Bertola mogelijk om een dagje mee te lopen met roofvogelexperts Ralph Buij en Peter van Geneijgen.

Na een korte koffiepauze gingen we op pad naar het eerste havikennest, dat zich op een kleine 20 meter hoogte bevond. Om bij de jonge vogels te komen, moet  een van de onderzoekers de boom in klimmen. Eenmaal bij het nest aangekomen worden de kuikens in stoffen tasjes geplaatst en naar beneden getakeld. De kuikens ondergaan de hele onderneming gemoedelijk. Tijdens het ringen  worden diverse metingen verricht, zoals gewicht, vleugellengte etc., om vast te stellen hoe oud ze zijn en of ze in goede conditie zijn. Tenslotte krijgen ze een ring met een unieke code, waardoor bij terugmeldingen van de geringde (dode of levende) vogels vastgesteld kan worden hoe ver de vogels uitzwerven van de nestplek, wat de gemiddelde overleving is en waaraan de vogels overlijden.

Als dit gedaan is, worden de jonge vogels naar boven getakeld en nemen weer plaats in het nest. Op deze dag zijn 4 nesten bezocht, waarvan alle kuikens zijn geringd. De totale populatie haviken op de Zuid-West Veluwe is 27-30 paren, maar het aantal dat broedt varieert tussen jaren. Dankzij dit onderzoek kan de status van deze populatie beter gemonitord worden. En met de bijdrage van de sponsoren heeft ook het luipaarden en viskatten project in Nepal een nieuwe impuls gekregen.

Tijgers in India

Lees nu HIER meer over onze bio-sociale studie naar Tijgers in India. Hierin proberen wij antwoord te geven op de vraag hoe tijgers overleven in een stedelijke omgeving, en hoe de lokale bevolking omgaat met de aanwezigheid van grote katten in hun dagelijks leven.

COVID-19 en natuurbescherming

Tussen de nare berichten die ons dagelijks bereiken over de verwoestende gevolgen van de COVID-19 uitbraak op mens en maatschappij door, zijn ook steeds vaker positieve verhalen te horen. Wilde dieren breiden bijvoorbeeld hun leefgebieden uit tot in de buitenwijken van anders altijd zo drukke steden.

Maar lang niet alle in het wild levende diersoorten profiteren van de ‘ophokplicht’ die ons mensen is opgelegd. Het lijkt er zelfs op dat juist de zeldzaamste diersoorten hier nu het meest onder lijden. De zeldzame zwarte neushoorn kon voorheen rekenen op een constante toestroom van safarigangers die stropers op afstand hielden, Nu rust die vrijwel onmogelijke taak geheel op de schouders van het handjevol rangers en parkwachters dat nog aan het werk kan of mag zijn.

Succesvolle leeuwenzendering in de strijd tegen Leeuw-Vee conflicten in Kenia

15 tot 24 februari 2020 was voorzitter Hans de Iongh van stichting Leo in Kenia voor een missie om drie leeuwen te zenderen. Tijdens de missie zijn een mannetje (Loek Lotir) en een vrouwtje (Seffie) gezenderd in Lake Nakuku NP, en een vrouwtje (Betty) in Soysambu Conservancy.

De zenderingsmissie was een samenwerking tussen Stichting Leo, Monica Chege van KWS, de dierenarts unit van KWS en Soysambu conservancy. De zendering was onderdeel van een al lopend onderzoek wat wordt gecoördineerd door Monica Chege­.Er is zijm zenders Irridium satelliet zenders van Africa Wildlife tracking (AWT) gebruikt en de bewegingen van de leeuwen kunnen direct opgevraagd worden via de AWT website. Deze informatie zal direct worden gebruikt door het management team van Lake Nakuru NP en Soysambu Conservancy om conflict tussen de lokale bevolking en leeuwen tegen te gaan.

Met name de zendering van het volwassen vrouwtje Betty in Soysambu Conservancy was erg belangrijk. Dit vrouwtje is namelijk de leidster van de laatste vier leeuwen (Betty, twee sub-adulte leeuwen en een jonge welp) die in deze conservancy leven. Een jaar geleden waren dit er nog 16, maar doordat er leeuwen zijn gedood door veehouders, en doordat leeuwen zich hebben verspreid naar andere gebieden (zoals Hells Gate NP) is de populatie sterk gekrompen. De zender van Betty wordt gezien als een soort levenslijn om de dieren in de gaten te houden en om conflicten met de lokale bevolking te voorkomen. In deze manier van ‘geofencing’ worden er op tijd waarschuwingen verspreid als de leeuwen rustplaatsen van vee benaderen.

In Lake Nakuru NP zijn er nog 12 leeuwen over. De afgelopen jaren was te zien dat de leeuwen van Lake Nakuru NP regelmatig op bezoek gingen in Soysambu conservancy door gaten in de hekken. Doordat KWS deze heken heeft verstevigd zijn deze ‘ontsnappingen’ uit het park een stuk lastiger geworden. KWS, Soysambu Conservancy en Stichting Leo willen de bewegingen van de leeuwen in Lake Nakuru NP de komende maanden in de gaten houden, en ook hier een ‘geofencing’ systeem opzetten voor wanneer de leeuwen  in de buurt komen van locaties met veel vee, of wanneer zij Lake Nakuru NP verlaten.

Een nieuwe samenwerking tussen Stichting Leo en de Lewa Borena Conservancy in Kenia

Voorzitten Hans de Iongh van Stichting leo had afgelopen 23 februari een afspraak met dr. Tuqa Jirmo (assistent directeur vna de Lewa Borena Conservancy). Dr. Tuqa Jirmo heeft in de periode 2007-2012 ondersteuning gekregen van Stichting Leo voor een monitoring- en conflictpreventie programma voor leeuwen populaties in Amoseli NP in Kenia. Dit was destijds onderdeel van zijn PhD programma bij de Universiteit van Leiden.

Nu hebben Hans en Tuqa het gehad over nieuwe mogelijkheden om leeuwen en hyena populaties te monitoren in de Lew Borena Conservancy, en de gegevens direct te gebruiken voor het mitigeren en voorkomen van conflict met de lokale bevoking.

Wij zijn blij te kunnen delen dat er besloten is om een nieuwe samenwerking aan te gaan tussen Stichting Leo en de Lewa Borena Conservancy om deze zaken aan te pakken.

Leeuwenonderzoek in Kenia in 2019: Samenvattingen van studentenverslagen

Afgelopen jaar hebben verschillende studenten van de Universiteit van Leiden onderzoek gedaan naar leeuwen in verschillende nationale parken in Kenia. Deze onderzoeken werden gesteund door Stichting Leo. Ondertussen zijn de rapporten af, en we willen de resultaten graag met jullie delen door middel van onderstaande samenvattingen.

Josine Meijer – The effect of human disturbance on lion movement patterns and home ranges in and around Nairobi National Park, Kenya

The lion (Panthera leo, L. 1785) population worldwide has been on the decline for decades, with the leading causes being habitat destruction, prey depletion and human-lion conflicts. Contrastingly, research that studied the effect of habitat destruction on lion movement are scarce. In this study I investigated the effect of habitat destruction on lion movement patterns, to gain a better understanding of human disturbance on lions. In 2017 and 2018, the Kenyan government built a railway bridge that cut straight through Nairobi National Park. Using GPS data from collared lions and using geospatial analysis, I investigated if the railway bridge or construction thereof has had an effect on the lions’ movements and home range. Construction works had a significant effect on the lions movement. The lions tend to keep a further distance from the bridge during constructions and were found outside of the park more often. Furthermore, potential minimum distance moved per 24 hours and home range sizes decreased substantially during and after construction of the bridge. No restoration of the movement patterns was found. The railway is expected to be in full operation in 2019. This study concludes that the construction of the bridge seems to have had an impact on the lion population in Nairobi NP. However no conclusions can be drawn for long term impacts of the presence of the bridge. Further research is needed to determine if lions are also impacted by the presence of the bridge when it is in use.

Megan Verhagen – The influence of prey species abundance on prey selection and diet composition of Panthera leo in Kenya: a DNA-analysis.

The African lion is under increasing pressure and has faced dramatic population declines in the past 21 years which are expected to continue. To preserve the African lion it is suggested that in the near future only fenced protected intensively managed areas may save lion populations. However,
conservation success of management practices is dependent upon many different factors which all may contribute to or counteract the success of conservation efforts. One of these factors is diet composition. The diet composition of lions provides insights in predator-prey dynamics and lion
population demographics. The optimal foraging theory predicts that predator diet composition will vary along with the abundance variations of the prey species. Since lions are opportunistic predators, it is expected that prey species abundance influences their diet composition. However, in small reserves with unnatural ungulate assemblages, the connection between prey species abundance and diet composition are not as distinct. Consequently, for the purpose of conservation management, especially in in enclosed protected areas, it is essential to gain a better understanding of the influence of prey species abundance on prey selection by lions. A diet analysis is proposed for which the traditional methods of hair analysis and opportunistic observations are used in combination with a DNA-analysis through NGS. This study will be carried out in 4 different national parks in Kenya which were selected for their differing management strategies.

Sam Boerlijst – Genotyping the lion, The usability of microsatellite genotyping of faecal samples

  1. Biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate. Adequate conservation is needed in order to mitigate damage to ecosystem stability and functioning. Even more so due to the increasing pressure of climate change, habitat fragmentation and overexploitation.
  2. Protected areas have been established worldwide as a tool for conservation of biodiversity. However, conservation of wide-ranging carnivores in particular remains a challenge. Due to the pressure of habitat loss, prey base depletion and increasingly dense inhabited buffer zones of national parks, human-wildlife conflicts have dramatically increased. This has led to a severe decrease of the African lion (Panthera leo, see Kitchener et al L. 1758) populations.
  3. Recent research has demonstrated that in fenced parks lion populations may have a higher chance to survive by limiting prey dispersal and human-wildlife conflicts.
  4. The effectiveness of enclosing reserves can be studied via dietary analysis. However, traditional methods are prone to oversampling of a few individuals, which may lead to biased results, thereby revealing individual dietary changes instead of those of the species.
  5. This study aims to provide a method to assess individual diet via molecular identification of scat samples in Nakuru National Park and Soysambu Conservancy using microsatellite variant calling from capillary electrophoresis or next generation sequencing data.
  6. Insight in the usability of microsatellite analysis for faecal samples can be used to more accurately determine population size and individual diet, which may help to determine the effectiveness of fenced reserves in regards to livestock predation.