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Survey - The Future of Big Cats
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 (08-17-2016, 02:06 PM)brotherbear Wrote:(08-17-2016, 05:38 AM)SVTIGRIS Wrote: @ Lets just go back to what you said, not what you changed the debate to: Lions live/have lived in the Forest and in 3/4 of the entire Congo Basin. If you'd like to switch the debate to "lions don't live in the jungle" that is a different discussion, which of course I stated numerous times that a lion nor a tiger or any cat with that kind of mass can live in a densely packed eco system like a jungle. But that wasn't what we were discussing nor is there a debate there. @GrizzlyClaws There is some nice info on the type of lions that may have migrated there.... "No one’s sure how lions got there in the first place, according to Henschel. They probably arrived about 18,000 years ago, when ice sheets covered much of the northern hemisphere and the climate in West Africa was drier, the grasslands more extensive, and the rainforest more contained. Historic and genetic evidence suggests that as the rainforest retreated, lions and a handful of other savannah species moved up from the south. But many savannah species — zebras, wildebeest, giraffe — either never made the trek or didn’t persist on the plateau. With limited food options, Gabon’s lions fed mostly on forest buffalo. After Gabon’s independence from France in 1960, citizens armed with shotguns did as well. As hunters wiped out buffalo, hungry lions turned to cattle, and angry ranchers poisoned them. Civil war in neighboring Congo at the end of the 20th century sent Congolese hunters streaming across the border into Gabon in search of food, further depleting prey. By the start of the 21st century, the lions of Gabon were locally extinct. Today, lowland rainforest stretches 1,000 kilometers to the north of the plateau, separating it from small lion populations in Cameroon and the Central African Republic. To the south, the Congo River separates Gabon from the few remaining lions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Both the dense rainforest and the deep river are formidable obstacles for lions seeking new territory. But that’s exactly what Henschel thinks this lion was doing." "Young lions often leave their natal home in search of new territory and mates, roaming hundreds of kilometers if necessary. Henschel believes this lion most likely swam across the Congo River from the Malebo region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 250 kilometers away; an area where other biologists have spotted lions in recent years. Its affinity for forest cover might have helped. Two days after Henschel saw the lion images he was at the park setting up more camera traps, placing most of them in typical lion habitat in the savannah. “None of those cameras have filmed that lion,” Henschel says. “Whereas the cameras we set up in forest areas have filmed it repeatedly.” Henschel speculates that the forest might provide refuge from people, which the lion could now fear. “He seems to have adapted to a life in the forest. But how an animal that size hunts in the forest we don’t know yet.” The solitary lion is just the latest indication of wildlife recovery in Gabon. Thanks in part to Henschel’s previous work in 2001, the government of Gabon established Batéké Plateau National Park in 2002 as part of a network of protected areas designed to replenish its devastated wildlife populations. Park wardens now patrol the area and hunting has declined. “It’s an incredible difference,” Henschel says. “To see this area now and compare it to what it was like in 2001 — today there are animal signs prevalent throughout the park. In places where we used to see poacher camps, we now see elephant signs or groups of buffalo.” |
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