AWF Blog

• Lion Cubs Found in Samburu

  Posted: July 29, 2008, 11:20 am by Paul

  Samburu National Reserve has not had lion cubs since May 2006. This was a major concern considering the lion population here has been declining, according to lion researcher and AWF Charlotte Fellow, Shivani Bhalla.

  But in a place full of surprises, we received the good news that three new lion cubs had been found in the reserve.

  I joined Shivani to locate the cubs, identify the mother, and check their health status. Shivani can read dirt like nobody’s business. Where I see sand, she sees tracks and can tell how many different individuals there are, which sex, and roughly when they passed. So after several hours driving along the roads of the reserve, she had a good sense that the lioness and cubs were in a thicket of Salvadora bushes about a hundred meters from the river in a place called Hippo Circuit.

  We killed the engine, stood out of the roof hatch, and listened. We heard rustling noises and soon three tiny cubs popped out from behind a bush. They chased each other, wrestling and biting. Pure kitten cuteness. Then the mother emerged and Shivani immediately recognized her as Nabo.

  Three new lion cubs were found in Samburu National Reserve. The reserve has not had cubs in over two years.

  It’s a great relief to see three healthy lion cubs in the reserve. Reserve officials were concerned that the dry spell of cubs could indicate a reproductive problem with the resident males; so this should dispel fears. And with lion numbers dropping in the area, new cubs brings hope.

  The cubs are about 8-9 weeks old, which means they’ve only just been brought out by their mother. Lion cubs are born in well-hidden spots like these Salvadora bushes. Their eyes open at 3-11 days; they can walk at 10-15 days. The mother will keep the cubs hidden and leave them while she hunts. The cubs are often left alone for over 24 hours. But at around 4-8 weeks, the lioness will begin leading the cubs from their hiding spot to feed on kills. The cubs will be weaned at 7-9 months.

• Camera Trap Tally

  Posted: July 29, 2008, 10:27 am by Nakedi

  The use of camera traps has proven to be a useful way to get an idea of leopard activities in the N’wanetsi Concession. I’ve been able to capture good quality photographs were taken during the survey. There were 20 leopard photographs taken during the study and about 13 individuals. However, because we only have one camera per station it is difficult to say this with confidence.

  Cameras were placed in areas of known leopard activities and areas which were perceived as suitable leopard habitats. Care was taken to cover as much area as possible while not compromising the capture probabilities for leopards, i.e. to give each leopard an opportunity of at least one capture.

  Due to the sheer size of the N’wanetsi Concession (15,000 hectares), and limited number of camera traps, a considerable amount of land is yet to be sampled in the north of the concession. The results obtained in this study are therefore a partial sample of the leopard population in the area.

  After this study, I will now be faced with the humongous task of sampling a 2 million hectare Kruger National Park. To put this in to perspective it is about the size of Wales or about half the Netherlands. As a result more camera traps are required if this mammoth task is to become a reality. Ideally 50 cameras may be sufficient enough to cover the whole Park in a period of 1 year.

  Camera Tally

  1.  Two cameras were broken by elephants. This requires that the steel casings be sprayed with pepper spray and the inside be fitted with some sort of padding to provide shock absorption during elephant encounters. Remedy: pepper spray

  Elephants 2: Cameras 0

  2.  Rhinos did not have an impact on cameras as much as elephants did except that they use them as rubbing posts, which they subsequently manage to bend. Well hidden cameras were not affected by rhinos at all. Remedy: conceal the cameras

  Rhinos 0.5: Cameras 1

  3.  Hyenas were not a factor probably because of the use of steel casings.

  Hyena 0: Cameras 1

  4.  The weather did not affect cameras in a negative way except that during low temperatures battery life was shortened tremendously. As a result if one is surveying during the winter months. The use of rechargeable batteries will in the long run prove to be environmentally and economically friendly. Remedy: wear warm clothes!

  Cold temperature 1: Batteries 0: Nakedi 0

  5.  Rain was also not a factor.

  Rain 0: Cameras 1

• What Killed the Cheetah?

  Posted: July 17, 2008, 7:20 pm by Paul

  One thing is certain: when you’re in the bush, you never know what’s going to happen next.

  Shivani and I were sitting in her car by the Ewaso Nyiro river, catching up on our field notes. (And she was betting me that I couldn’t sit still for 20 minutes without talking. I won’t tell you who lost.) Then she got a call from a ranger in neighboring Buffalo Springs National Reserve saying they had discovered a dead cheetah. In addition to studying the lions in this region, Shivani is monitoring the cheetah population, so she’s notified about any incidents like this.

  We raced through the reserve to meet the ranger at his post, and he took us out to the cheetah. We found the carcass lying in the hard dirt, under the sun, out in the open. It was such an empty sight.

  Not the African plains you’d imagine: a dead cheetah discovered in Buffalo Springs National Reserve, Kenya.

  “If this boy had a brother,” Shiv said, “he’s probably still around, staying close to the body. Cheetah brothers are like life partners.”

  We inspected the cheetah, which was intact. Perhaps dead two days, it didn’t have any visible wounds from a fight, nor the dramatic bleeding from orifices that is seen in anthrax victims. There was some clotted blood coming from its nose and ears. A few patches of fur had sloughed off on its flank, a normal sign of decomposition.

  What had happened? It almost looked as the though the cheetah was crossing the plains and simply lay down to die.

  Because anthrax broke out in the region in 2005 and remains a serious threat to wildlife in this area, we wanted to be sure. Shivani called Dr. Steven Chege, a vet with the Kenya Wildlife Service, who worked with AWF and others during the anthrax outbreak. He advised us not to touch or move it, and that we should guard it until he could arrive the following morning to perform a necropsy and take tissue samples.

  I never thought I’d say “yes, let’s camp by the dead cheetah.” But anything goes out here. Luckily we had some rice and carrots rolling around in the back of the car for dinner, and I had a sleeping bag with me. That night we took turns with a couple of rangers to keep scavenging lions and hyenas away from the cheetah.

  Dr. Chege arrived around 8 a.m. and quickly prepared for the necropsy. He started with the head, peeling back the skin and immediately noting a thin crack snaking down the cranium. He cracked through the bone, and blood spilled out. “Cause of death: brain hemorrhage.”

  Shivani and Dr. Chege perform a necropsy to determine how this cheetah died.

  Seems as though our fallen friend received a swift kick right to the head. We looked carefully around the cheetah and found zebra tracks. It’s likely that the cheetah was in mid-hunt, pursuing a plains or Grevy’s zebra, and the zebra delivered a powerful kick at just the right time, giving a winning point for Team Zebra.

  Dr. Chege finished his necropsy, examining the cheetah’s organs and other parts. It was really quite gross, but I was thoroughly fascinated by such a unique opportunity to see the inner workings of a big cat up close.

  Dr. Chege packed up and we left the cheetah carcass for the maggots, hyenas, jackals and other scavengers. And off we went, wondering what we’ll discover next.

• Green Light for Project, Leopard Scat, and Camera Traps!

  Posted: July 15, 2008, 1:06 pm by Nakedi

  After eight months of writing and re-writing the proposal, I am pleased to say that the study was finally given the green light by the South African National Parks (SANParks) Scientific Services (Prior to this I was allowed to use camera traps to do some monitoring while I waited for the verdict from the Scientific Services).

  This means that once the Conservation Services have gone through the proposal, and given it a nod, we can sign a contract and the leopard project can now go full steam ahead. This will allow the project to go in to the next stage, which involves collaring (using GPS collars) twelve leopards, preferably six males and six females, to see and learn about their space use and what they eat in the process.

  Ideally if a leopard spends more than a day in area, it would be possible that there is food there. In turn, we will get an opportunity to see how much time they spend outside the park, if they do that at all. Furthermore we can establish the level of leopard/human interaction.

  Next will be the collection of scat to study what leopards eat. (Actually this had already begun six months ago and was done on an opportunistic manner when walking with the Singita tracking team and driving around the concession). Leopards tend to leave their droppings in the middle of the road or in high places so as to mark their territory. To make sure that I am not picking up cheetah scat, I consult with the very experienced trackers. Tracks also help if it is fresh scat. This will later help us establish the level of diet overlap with lions and hyenas. I will explain later what we do with the scat to determine the prey that had been eaten.

  In addition, this effort might also help us determine the fate of jackals, the population of which is feared to be declining at an alarming rate. Fate here is suggested because it is well known that leopards have a catholic diet and would without a doubt prey on jackals. It is believed that leopards may be involved in the jackal population’s demise. However, other factors such as disease may not be ruled out. Finding or not finding jackal remains in leopard droppings will hopefully point us in the right direction.

  I have been away from the study site for two weeks now. I’m heading there tomorrow and will be able to visit and inspect the cameras by Wednesday July 17th. Elephants can be quite aggressive with them sometimes.

  Twice I found two cameras ripped from the ground, but still attached to the drop poles with signs of having been flung and kicked around until the intruder was satisfied. One camera was broken in the process and I’m busy trying to fix it. The other was still working when I found it and it took some interesting pictures of the world above from a worm’s eye view. I have now taken care to hide the cameras from these brutes and hopefully the cameras can last a long time.

  Some naughty elephants pushed over one of my camera traps.

  The felled camera took some unique - and entertaining - photos.

  This is what a giraffe would look like from a worm’s view!

• Counting Lions in Samburu

  Posted: July 13, 2008, 12:15 pm by Paul

  I crawled out of my tent at quarter to six. The sky was a dull grey-blue, with a few stars left scattered around the crescent moon. Shivani had already started Gypsy’s engine, warming up the little white Suzuki. Joseph, the camp chef and general manager, trotted over with a thermos of hot chai and some bananas for breakfast. Lekuraiyo emerged from his tent wrapped in his red shuka and greeted us. We climbed into Gypsy and pulled out of camp to go find some lions.

  Shivani Bhalla is conducting lion research in Samburu district of Kenya, and is an AWF Charlotte Fellow. Her project, Ewaso Lions, is censusing lions in Samburu National Reserve and the surrounding community areas. She set up a small camp in West Gate Conservancy, an area with an unknown lion population and ongoing conflict between these lions and people.

  Shivani Bhalla, an AWF Conservation Fellow, on her favorite perch: the roof of Gypsy, her Suzuki Maruti. Shivani and her team are researching the lion population in Samburu, Kenya.

  This morning we headed to the Conservation Area in West Gate - a place set aside by the community as a no-livestock zone for wildlife. With Lekuraiyo’s keen eyes looking out of the car’s hatch, it wasn’t long before we found three sets of lion tracks. “It looks like a male and two females,” Shivani said excitedly.

  She’s been in the area for a bit over a month and hasn’t yet seen a lion. “The lions in these parts are completely different than the lions in the reserve. The reserve lions are so used to people and vehicles that they’re almost tame. The ones in these parts are truly wild.” Even the managers of the nearby Sasaab lodge have been here a year and have never seen a lion. I’m only here for a few days - what are my chances?

  Shivani will radio-collar a lion (like this collared male I photographed in Samburu National Reserve).

  We came to an area with thick salvadora bushes - perfect lion hideouts. We decided to wait. We turned off the engine and listened for tell-tale signs of lions: baboon alarm calls, dik dik whistles, or nervous guinnea fowl squawking. For about half an hour we sat in silence, tensely.

  There was a sudden movement in the bush and Lekuraiyo whispered “Simba!” and we turned to follow his gaze. A large lioness had emerged from behind a bush, frozen mid-step, and was staring directly at us. No one moved. The lioness’ head was low, eyes focused, legs set for flight. She looked big and healthy, her muscles visible under her tan coat.

  Just as quickly as she had appeared, she disappeared off into the bushes. We collectively sighed and sank back into our seats as if the 8 seconds were utterly exhausting.

  “That’s a real lion,” Shivani said. It was her (and my) first sighting of a wild lion outside a protected area. It was an important moment. With luck, Shivani will continue to locate lions in the area, and radio-collar one in August to track the population. By counting lions in the area it will paint a better picture about these declining predators.

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes