Desert Lions

[Matias]

Some considerations on the subject.

The Desert Lion Conservation Project - http://www.desertlion.info/ is the only one to be authorized by the Government of Namibia to research, monitor and investigate the man / lion conflict in the area known as Kaokoland / Damaraland. This project does not have social media platforms, all information about the project made available to the public is on its website. Facebook that broadly advertises, advertises, and "responds to project information" is FAKE. I remember two occasions when the Desert Lion Project posted a note on its website explaining this, including warning that the information contained in this social media platform is distorting facts and provoking unnecessary conflicts. These platforms use data from the website, including radio telemetry information.


The site http://www.desertlion.org/ is recent. With origins in the Netherlands, and it seems to me, I'm not sure, that it was written by the filmmakers of the film Vanishing Kings. Not in connection with the Desert Lion Project underway in Namibia for more than a decade. I do not know how to report your pretensions. Today, in practical terms it does not have any conservation participation.


On its website the Desert Lion Conservation Project - http://www.desertlion.info/ provides a huge range of information on these lions - truly desert adapted. In its NEWS space, it is possible to follow every day's progress of the effectively monitored lions, where much information is made available to the public from year 2006 to date. With this it is possible to understand not only about the lions and the project, but also the geography, ecology and other social, economic and even political criteria. It makes it possible to understand in general terms the conservation policy implemented by the Government of Namibia. It is a very interesting reading, which can be done in chapters, providing an understanding not only regional. There is no sentimental appeal, they are practical approaches to approach, follow-up, monitoring and conservation.

Below, some facts have occurred and very well reported on the website.

1. The investigation of the death of the lion "Miles": the elaboration of the incident is worthy of an animal CSI, a wealth of details, with chart of all that and how it happened. Excellent.

2. The fact that it occurred to the XPL-73 "Rosh" lion: hearing the nocturnal roar of a lion more than 40km away, the same - widely demonstrated by radiotelemetry - went straight to the lion. This fact has already been incorporated into the so-called "scientific" knowledge about the sound propagation of its roar, where in a National Geographic program this occurred.

3. The unbelievable lion XPL-68 "Terrace": After spending a few weeks at the mouth of the Uniab River, where a lion had not been seen for more than two decades, Terrace set off for Angola, crossing the Kunene River in a stretch of almost 80m (Terrace never saw a permanent river in its life, only ephemeral rivers, small streams of water and wells) remaining in Angola for 15 days and returning back to Namibia. This lion in 135 days covered a distance of more than 3,000km. On one occasion he walked from the Hoanib River to the Uniab River intermittently, uninterrupted, for a total distance of 72km, on a time walk from 10:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., breaking all records.

Note: the recently deceased Ugab XPL-98 Male was the son of XPL-68 - remained of his offspring XPL-99 - Gretzky.

4. The life of the five male lions nicknamed "The Five Musketeers": Their lives up to the age of 03 are featured in the movie "Vanishing Kings". The project reports the life events of these lions, it is a global effort of preservation among the many organizations involved in this mission. DESERT LION DESIGN + TOSCO + WILDERNESS SAFARIS + PUROS CONSERVANCY, IRDNC, MET, in an effort of constant daily monitoring, in which one perceives the ample effort to safeguard the life of all of them. The five lions came to "inhabit" an area of the river Ganamub, whose area has a good concentration of giraffes, but close to the villages Tomakas, Omiriu and Ondudupi, known for retaliation of lions. One has the opportunity to build what this pride represented. The fact of the murder of four of them does not diminish its importance. The website offers to know them, their personalities, hunting activity etc., is to talk about life! It is to know how they lived and not just how they died.

The lions that inhabit the Hobatere concession area - adjacent to Etosha National Park, are not part of the lions monitored by the Desert Lions Conservation Project. Lions are inhabitants of semi-desert areas (semi-arid). They are not considered "adapted desert". Its radiocolares are identified by the HPL spelling; The ecology, climate and vegetation are different. Years ago, two males from this concession area headed west toward Damaraland; Radiocolars were inserted into both XPL 20 and XPL 21 - and became known as the Hobatere lions. This fact is very unique, which I know only happened this time. Today the Hobatere lions who have ventured west find a more challenging, more inhospitable landscape, and they stay out of the concession area on average for 1 to 3 days, returning to Hobatere. Already desert lions adapted in dispersion find in the soil of Etosha / Hobatere a more pleasant environment to live and this movement is well documented. The prey of the desert lions consist of: zebra, orix, springbok, ostrich, giraffe and very rarely elephants (their numbers in the region are very small). Unlike Etosha / Hobatere it has: eland, kudus and other antelopes. In all these years only a solitary Kudu, who was victimized by lions, was seen in Kaokoland / Damaraland.

In terms of morphology, I can say that these lions are no bigger and smaller than the other lions, they are slender, muscular, resilient. Desert elephants have longer legs and wider cushions, lions do not have this kind of adaptation. The cardiorespiratory system of lions are the same as other lions. In terms of volume and weight, the heart of a lion is on average only 0.57% of its body weight. They are physiologically adapted. Who ever saw the SAN people hunt a Kudu or an Eland by pursuit ... following the prey for 8, 9, 10 hours until the animal falls from exhaustion? The SAN has lived in the Kalahari for more than 30,000 years. They have no morphology different from ours - long legs, flat feet, lungs and / or larger heart - it's all a matter of physiological adaptation.

Adapted desert males are independent of females, spend weeks and even months without finding them. Females have up to 06 pups per litter and the pups' survival rate - contrary to the logic - is high. Their tolerance for lack of water is unbelievable, they pass relatively quietly when they are 8 to 12 days without food. Conflict to death among males is unusual. They are true survivors, they are admirable, unique animals.

If anyone knows of any other lion conservation project that makes available so much information and updates to the public please inform me !!! Reply