Saving the big cats of Africa

Lions and leopards- two of the fiercest big cats and apex predators of the African savannah. Lions are the second biggest big cat (after tigers) with a roar that can be heard from up to 8km away [1]. Leopards are pound-for-pound the strongest climber out of all the big cats [2]. However, like most beautiful animals in this world, they are under threat due to habitat loss, decrease in prey animals, conflict with humans in the forms of: trophy hunting, body part poaching and unsystematic killing that is unmaintainable for the survival of these species [3]. Lions have lost 95% of their home range in Africa [3] and are extinct in 15 African countries [1] putting them precariously on the edge of extinction. Leopards are a little more resistant to these threats due to their flexible nature and wide distribution, but still have a 67% decline in their African home range [3] and a 59% decline in their prey population due to the bushmeat trade [2]. A decrease in the leopard population has also led to inbreeding which can have long-lasting effects on the species and could take up to 100 years for the leopard species to fully recover [4]. These factors have left both species as vulnerable on the IUCN Red list with their future unclear.

But, it’s not all doom and gloom- conservationists are trying different methods to ensure the survival of these two incredible species.

For Leopards, Naude suggests wildlife corridors to link different reserves to encourage breeding with previously isolated populations of leopards instead of inbreeding [5]. These wildlife corridors will also hopefully reduce the leopards chances of crossing paths with humans who hunt leopards for their skin and use them for poorly managed trophy hunting [4], threats lions also face from humans. These human threats are mainly targets at larger males, reducing their numbers in leopard populations and leading to male offspring sticking around with their family groups and breeding with their relatives instead of venturing further afield [4]. If these wildlife corridors are successful are reducing inbreeding, they can improve genetic diversity in the leopard population, thus improving the overall health of leopard species and giving them an extra shot at combating events such as disease outbreaks and droughts [4]. Will this work? Well, wildlife corridors in India for Tigers, bears and leopards worked very successfully in improving the function and widening the gene pool in all three species [4]. This suggests these corridors could work for both lions and leopard conservation.

Another method that has been utilised in lions and leopards for conservation is by building livestock enclosures, this prevents these big cats from eating locals free-roaming livestock and the locals retaliating by killing them [1,2]. This also can help improve local’s relationship with these big cats by not always associating these animals as ‘nuisances who kill their livestock’ and may allow locals to have more of an appreciation of the animals themselves without affecting their livestock numbers [1,2].

Print captured by LEC & Wildtrack

The Aspinall foundation suggests that lion and leopard conservation can be difficult due to the elusive nature of leopards and lions, making spotting them difficult [3]. This is why a relationship with locals, camera traps and patrols are all vital to record the numbers of these species in the wild to help with their conservation [3]. Wildtrack also suggests that tracking the population of lions and leopards is a good way to help with their conservation, and they suggest doing this with good old-fashioned print tracking [6]. However, they take it to the next level with individual-specific track identification to help understand the specifics of the local populations of lions and leopards [6]. AWF also supports a more integrated approach of using local people, land use and their ecosystem and supports this more individualistic approach by suggesting the use of GPS collars on individual leopards [2].

A combination of all of these methods could help with understanding the different populations of these species and how we can help get these species back on track. There are so many different organisations that help with the conservation of these species and over the years it would be amazing if the populations of these species could increase and recover from human conflict that has resulted in inbreeding, home range loss, poaching, and reduced predator availability. The protection of these species is so vital, they are apex predators making them so important to the ecosystem they live in, also- aren’t they just gorgeous! I hope we can protect these amazing species.