Recovery
Friday 25 June 2021
The desert-adapted lion population is recovering from the prolonged period of food shortage due to the prevailing hyper-arid conditions. The late rains during April and May 2021 produced green vegetation that attracted large numbers of prey animals to the home range areas of those lion prides that occupy the western and more arid segments of the Northern Namib. This influx of prey, however, resulted in inter-specific and intra-specific competition as lions from several different prides and other large carnivores, such as spotted hyaenas and cheetahs, were attracted to the areas of prey concentrations. Lions from three different prides were observed clashing over the remains of a springbok carcass killed by a cheetah, and on another occasion a lioness in poor condition clashed with a group of 12 spotted hyaenas. ..read more >>
