Error message
Unable to fetch location details at this time.
African lion
Panthera leo nubica
-1.54662, 35.1761
Field Notes
Description:
A young male lion from a pride of four spotted in high grass stalking a line of blue wildebeest. On the 3rd shot one of the lions stands up and all the wildebeest freeze in one spot. 4th shot shows that the lions’ stomachs are distended and that they have already eaten well on that day. The wildebeest are safe… for now.
Habitat:
Savanna grasslands with scattered acacia trees for shade. Most African lions are now found in Eastern and Southern Africa. They are a vulnerable species and their numbers are unfortunately still decreasing, with estimated 30–50% decline over the last two decades. Spotted here in the Masai Mara, one of the best places to watch wild African lions.
Notes:
Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) are a lion’s favourite prey in the Masai Mara. At the time these shots were taken lions were eating every day in the Mara, as recent rain resulted in large numbers of wildebeests still hanging around. The group was made of 4 male lions of various ages, who may have recently separated from their original pride. If you find yourself in the Northern Mara Conservancy and nearby parts of the Mara, you can submit your lion sightings to The Mara Predator Project (http://livingwithlions.org/mara/). The project's website provides an ID guide to IDying individual lions, to help researchers track prides (unfortunately this spotting was in a different part of the Mara). Find out about it in the following BBC article on nature apps, where Project Noah is also discussed:
Comments (27)