Monitoring lions and their behaviour

 KopeLion grew from the TAWIRI project Balancing Pastoralist Livelihoods and Wildlife Management in Ngorongoro, and now funds it, while it in turn informs KopeLion’s work.

Our partner’s research work expands and builds upon Serengeti Lion Project’s unique, long-term dataset on lions from the Ngorongoro Crater, including family histories and population genetics, reaching back to 1962. The Crater lion population, studied since 1963 is uniquely important as an example of the challenges facing an isolated, inbred population and offers a rare opportunity to measure the effects of lion conservation in an individually recognized population.

We additionally monitor lions in the ‘hub’ of Ndutu, bordering the Serengeti National Park, and an important area with permanent water and several lion prides and where there is often high conflict in the dry season, and in the multi use areas where pastoralists communities are permitted to live and graze their livestock.

Roimen Lelya, Monitoring and Coexistence Officer tracking a lion using telemetry in Ndutu.

Cards showing whiskers spots and markings are used by the research team to identify lions.

The research team monitor the lions across Ngorongoro regularly.