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Survey - The Future of Big Cats
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Lions live in the Congo or have lived in the Congo at some point
Current Status 2012 Riggio et al. 2012 The Garamba-Bili Uere lion area of 115,671km2 is estimated to contain 175 lions and is considered part of the Central Africa region population. Within the Eastern Africa region three lion populations are believed to exist. The Greater Virunga lion area that also encompasses parts of Uganda contains an estimated 210 lions in an area of 5,583km2. The Luama lion area of 5,197km2 and the Intombwe Massif lion area of 3,244km2 are each thought to contain less than 50 individuals. Riggio J, Jacobson A, Dollar L, Bauer H, Becker M, Dickman A, Funston P, Groom R, Henschel P, de Iongh H, Lichtenfeld L, Pimm S (2012) The size of savannah Africa: a lion's (Panthera leo) view. Biodiversity Conservation Dec 12 DOI 10.1007/s10531-012-0381-4 (html) https://lionalert.org/alert/lions_in/The...he%20Congo  *This image is copyright of its original author Congo Lion (Panthera leo azandica) The Congo Lion is also known as the Northeast Congo Lion or the Uganda Lion. This subspecies can be found in the Congo River basin and look quite similar to the Masai lions. They are distributed over a small range and are under tremendous threat of extinction. Latest surveys conclude that the lion is already extinct in Rwanda. They have also found a lion in Gabon for the first time in 20 years which most likely traveled the 250km trek from neighboring Republic of Congo. http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/africa/gab...irst-lion/ 
By Congo, I was referring to the tropical jungles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabon#Geography
Gabon is located on the Atlantic coast of central Africa. Located on the equator, between latitudes 3°N and 4°S, and longitudes 8° and15°E. Gabon generally has an equatorial climate with an extensive system of rainforests covering 85% of the country. There are three distinct regions: the coastal plains (ranging between 20 and 300 km [10 and 190 mi] from the ocean's shore), the mountains (the Cristal Mountains to the northeast of Libreville, the Chaillu Massif in the centre), and the savanna in the east. The coastal plains form a large section of the World Wildlife Fund's Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests ecoregion and contain patches of Central African mangroves especially on the Muni River estuary on the border with Equatorial Guinea. Gabon's largest river is the Ogooué which is 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) long. Gabon has three karst areas where there are hundreds of caves located in the dolomite and limestone rocks. Some of the caves include Grotte du Lastoursville, Grotte du Lebamba, Grotte du Bongolo, and Grotte du Kessipougou. Many caves have not been explored yet. A National Geographic Expedition visited the caves in the summer of 2008 to document them (Expedition Website). Gabon is also noted for efforts to preserve the natural environment. In 2002, President Omar Bongo Ondimba put Gabon firmly on the map as an important future ecotourism destination by designating roughly 10% of the nation's territory to be part of its national park system (with 13 parks in total), one of the largest proportions of nature parkland in the world. The National Agency for National Parks manages Gabon's national park system. Natural resources include: petroleum, magnesium, iron, gold, uranium, and forests.
As you can see on post #32, Gabon has it's open savanna. The largest predator native to the Congo rainforest is the leopard.
Watch the video, the lion is not walking through the "open Savannah"
It's walking through jungle.  *This image is copyright of its original author Photos: The first lion in 20 years has been spotted in the West African nation of Gabon. The species had previously been declared 'locally extinct.' Scientists say it is likely he is in search of a mate. Hide Caption  *This image is copyright of its original author The lion was spotted on footage collected through a chimpanzee study in Bateke Plateau National Park led by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology's Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee and The Aspinall Foundation  *This image is copyright of its original author A lot of protected species disappeared from Gabon in the '90s, including the African wild dog, spotted hyenas and, eventually lions. Footage from the study has captured more species in recent months. Bateke Plateau National Park  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author http://www.thousandwonders.net/Akanda+National+Park  *This image is copyright of its original author While I'm sure lions made their way into the Savannah of the Gabon they certainly made their way through the rain forest as well.  *This image is copyright of its original author Female lion peers through the thick foliage of a montane rainforest in Ethiopia. Photo by: Bruno D’Amicis/NABU. https://news.mongabay.com/2012/08/king-o...inforests/ "Calling the African lion ([i]Panthera leo) the ‘king of the jungle’ is usually a misnomer, as the species is almost always found in savannah or dry forests, but recent photos by the Germany-based Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) document lions in Ethiopian rainforests. Taken in the Kafa Biosphere Reserve, the photos show a female lion hiding out in thick montane jungle. [/i] “We are delighted with this news and look forward to studying these exceptional animals in their unusual habitat,” said NABU’s Vice-President Thomas Tennhardt in a press release. “To manage potential conflict with local communities, NABU will set up a dedicated conservation fund.” NABU has been working in the region since 2006. Long known to locals, the lions are actually thought not to be permanent residents, but possibly passing through Kafa Biosphere Reserve in the dry season. Kafa Biosphere Reserve covers 760,000 hectares of montane rainforest and preserves the last place on Earth where wild coffee (Coffea arabica) still grows naturally. The reserve is home to at least 106 woody plants, 100 birds, and 48 mammals. Although mighty, lions are gravely imperiled: habitat loss, prey depletion, hunting, poisonings, and conflict with humans have decimated Africa’s lions. In the last twenty years alone, the lion population is believed to have declined by 30 percent, prompting the species to be listed as Vulnerable on the IUNC Red List. " 
Good info Pckts, but one thing to note though.
If we're trying to determine which of the species would survive or thrive in a determined environment, I can't say lions would thrive or be the dominant cat in a dense jungle like that. Use it to pass through? Yes. But not be the top cat, so in that sense I agree with Brotherbear.
I don't necessarily buy that lions are just "passing" through.
This lion most likely came from the congo to gabon, it needs to hunt and eat to survive so I would assume that a lion looking good, most likely has hunted and fed recently. And thus if a lion can sustain itself there, then there is no reason why it couldn't live there, which they obviously have done before but it could also simply be passing through as well, but I think it still will seek out that type of habitat from time to time. There are also stories like this... "Off in one of the few remaining relatively primeval natural environments of the world — the Bili Forest of the far-northern portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo — lives a band of very large chimpanzees that possess a number of very strange qualities and behaviors. The local folk-stories of the surrounding region make note of massive ape-like creatures that kill and hunt lions, catch fish, and — the stories go — howl at the moon. With many local hunters mentioning an animal that looks something like a cross between a chimpanzee and a gorilla — an animal that apparently, according to the stories, is unaffected by poison darts, as the other apes are. While you may be now making the assumption that such stories can’t possibly be true, you’d actually be wrong — a fair amount of research has gone into this subspecies of chimpanzee over the last few decades, and there is apparently quite a lot of truth to the stories." http://scienceheathen.com/2015/01/11/bil...ubspecies/ Last but not least is the Gir Forest, while it is a dry and more open forest, it is still a forest none the less.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author http://www.walkthroughindia.com/wildlife...-of-india/ and lions have thrived there as well. I see no reason why a tiger, jaguar and leopard can survive in the forest but a lion cannot. They already do or they did in some places and that is enough for me to know that they are capable of it. I think where cats live comes down to preference, a tiger loves the water and lions hate it, but still lions can thrive in it, a tiger prefers the secretive life, it's a loaner, it doesn't want to be seen, a lion prefers the open life, it's a pride member, they prefer to be seen and heard. Tigers can hunt in the open and have, lions can hunt in the jungle/forest and have. That being said, the Jungle is a very broad term, there are many different types of Forest and Jungle, is a lion or tiger suited to a densely packed jungle, of course not, they obviously need space to fit their big bodies, they don't climb trees (well) and thus that terrain is not suitable for them. Is a tiger more suited to indian jungle habitat than a lion, probably, but to be honest, there are very few on this forum who could actually provide real insight on the topic. @DrPanthera or @Shardul (may be a few others) would be the most qualified to explain to us the differences in habitat between the Gir, Kaziranga, Ranth, Congo, Gabon, etc.  (08-18-2016, 02:10 AM)GrizzlyClaws Wrote: @Pckts, the Asiatic lion evolved from the West African lion, so this group of lion is more adaptable to live in the forest domain than the rest. That could absolutely be the case, which clad of lion would the North Eastern Congo Lion be?
Based on the geographic proximity, I guess they belong to the East African clade.
Why is the lion not more wide-spread throughout the African rainforest?
 *This image is copyright of its original author
No idea, but it used to be.
*This image is copyright of its original author I also assume the task of monitoring lion population through such tricky terrain would be extremely difficult.
It appears from your map that the most lush jungle terrain is and was lion-free as well as, I would assume, the dryest desert locations. Still, apparently a lion can adjust to forest-life.
How so?
Almost 3/4 of the entire Congo Basin Countries supported Lions.  *This image is copyright of its original author Don't forget that before human incursion there was far more jungle and forest compared to now where unless its a protected area, the forest are destroyed for industrial growth. Like Bumba, Kamina, Lubumbashi etc. Bumba  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Or Zongo  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author But like I said, of course a large predator is going to have an extremely tough time traversing a heavily dense forest, so obviously the lushest or densest forest or jungle will not support a large predator such as a lion or tiger. But any place that can support it's prey will support it's predator I believe.
How so?
Almost 3/4 of the entire Congo Basin Countries supported Lions. Look at the map on post #40. It shows you where the Congo Basin is. Now, look at the map you posted on post #41. It shows us that the heart of the jungle was devoid of lions. Post #43 shows us pictures of the "modern Congo region" but has nothing to do with lions.
The map shows that 3/4 of the basin supported lions, two of the places shown in the images, which of course are former ranges of the lion show the dense forest and the demolition from human beings.
You are focusing on the smallest portion of the basin which wasn't a habitat for lions and disregarding the remaining larger portion of the basin which was a habitat for lions and all of which have dense forest, Not just the smaller portion. |
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