By Tia
Ghose, LiveScience Staff Writer | LiveScience.com – 43 mins
ago
Nearly half of
all of Africa 's lion populations could
face extinction in the next 40 years if conservation measures aren't
changed, according to a new study.
The study,
published today (March 6) in the journal Ecology Letters, found that lion
populations that were fenced into conservation areas rebounded in recent
years, whereas lions in open preserves were challenged by prey loss and
predation by human neighbors.
"Lions in
fenced reserves tend to do much better, they're achieving much better
populations," said Luke Hunter, a conservation
biologist with Panthera, an organization that works to protectendangered
big cats. "It's also cheaper to achieve those outcomes."
Big cats
Lion
populations have been shrinking across Africa
as they rub up against growing human populations. Herding cultures, such
as the Maasai or the Zulu, may convert wild habitat to grazing land, thereby
reducing the population of natural prey for the majestic cats. So instead of
going after a zebra, lions will hunt people's livestock (and occasionally kill
people).
"More and
more people live in fairly rural areas where there is wildlife, but those
people rely on livestock, so they're really coming into conflict often with
lions," Hunter told LiveScience. "They just see them as a really
dangerous enemy."
To understand
what strategies might best protect lions, Hunter and a few dozen colleagues
analyzed lion population data from 42 sites across Africa .
Some parks reported 46 years of data, whereas others had only three years of
data.
They then
compared the population trajectories with fencing, the money allocated
to conservationand nearby human population density.
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