Desert-adapted lions occupy an area of approximately 40,000 km2 in Namibia’s remote and barren northwest. They share this landscape with about 19,300 humans – mostly small-scale pastoralists for whom drought and predation represent significant threats to livelihoods. Lions account for 20% of livestock losses.
The population of desert-adapted lions is small – currently about 56–60 individuals. This population fluctuates significantly based on rainfall, prey base and persecution from humans, from a low of perhaps 20 individuals in the late 1990s to an estimated high of 180 in 2015.
Convincing livestock farmers that lions should occupy the same landscape at all is a tough ask, especially when there are no obvious benefits. The tenuous relationship between communal farmers and lions has engendered retaliatory and preventive killing of lions. Since 2000, retaliatory killings have accounted for 89% of recorded lion (non-cub) mortalities – with more than 130 lions killed during this period.
SA’s ‘R3.4-billion’ hunting industry – should a simple tourist levy replace recreational hunts?
Some view trophy hunting as one model demonstrating economic benefits to local people – if the industry is managed sustainably and legally. Considerable effort is made to prevent and mitigate livestock losses resulting from lion predation. One such method is to track individual lions using satellite collars, which trigger warning SMSs when the lions are near livestock so that local people can chase the lions away. Another method is the provision of safe fenced areas where livestock can be moved at night.
The desert-adapted lion is not a separate species from lions found in less arid areas. They do, however, display remarkable adaptions that enable them to live in this inhospitable region – which non-adapted lions would not survive.
