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Since the kruger national park is fenced off conservation area how do the parks employees ensure the introduction of strong genes into the Lion population?

I would also like to know if they deem it necessary to intervene.
Maybe the Kruger population is large enough to ensure proper gene distribution in the natural way.
When young males leave the prides I think they travel quite a bit before they reach the age where they can try to take over another pride.

Yes I agree with you in saying that young males travel before they find a territory that's suits them.
How ever the park has been around for a long time and during that time there have also been disease that has weakened and killed off a lot of strong genes.

Stickman

I think the answer to this question lies with what number of lion would be considered to be a self sustaining gene pool.

I am sure that with all the years of research in KNP on lion they would have made plans to introduce new genes if they thought it necessary.

The way in which prides structure themselves and where the dominant males are always those with strong genes will ensure that proper gene flow always take place.

Kruger at the moment has enough lions to have a self-sustaining population, only one of six long term self sustaining populations in the whole of Africa.
Lion numbers in Africa have declined over 70% in the last 30 years and if we are not careful will soon be in danger of being put on the endangered species list.
Disease, hunting and habitat encroachment have all played a role in the decline.
We need to act now whilst we can still do something to save them.

I think this applies the very least to Kruger, since there are 2000-3000 or so lions to proliferate the gene pool, but it is relevant to smaller reserves where lions have been re-introduced, like Addo & Karoo.

Maybe we could get some insight please mods.

Beverley & Derek Joubert interviewed on 50/50 last night didn't paint a very heartening picture on the future of Lions.
and if I am not mistaken think they said there was only 1700 population in Kruger now.

2) Joubert’s Interview

Simon interviews Dereck and Beverly Joubert on Africa’s last lions…

(Extract from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field ... /jouberts/)

Dereck and Beverly Joubert are award-winning filmmakers from Botswana who have been Explorers-in-Residence for over four years.
Their mission is the conservation and understanding of the large predators and key African wildlife species that determine the course of all conservation in Africa.
They have been filming, researching, and exploring in Africa for over 25 years.
Their coverage of unique predator behavior has resulted in 22 films, 10 books, six scientific papers, and many articles for National Geographic magazine.
This body of work has resulted in five Emmys, a Peabody, the World Ecology Award, and the recent induction into the American Academy of Achievement.
Beverly Joubert also is an acclaimed photographer, and many of her photographs have appeared in National Geographic magazine.
Film making for them has always been a way to bring the message of conservation to audiences and it is estimated that one of their films, “Eternal Enemies,” has been seen by over a billion viewers.
Their recent expansion into conservation tourism via their new company, Great Plains, is a venture into community/conservation partnerships in Africa, and Great Plains has received awards for responsible tourism in London and South Africa.
It is the Jouberts’ belief that while some areas need the wilderness to be maintained in isolation, other areas will disappear unless viable, extremely-light-ecological-footprint (low-volume, high-cost) benefits are generated for communities.
This year they added land in Tanzania, Kenya and an exciting new project in Rwanda, bringing the total amount of impacted conservation land to about 1.5 million acres.
These projects all aim to rehabilitate the environment and return these vast tracts of land to nature.
Their major effort today is in establishing the Big Cats Initiative with National Geographic as an emergency action fund to drive the world’s attention to big cats and to develop real solutions to stop the decline that has seen lion numbers drop from 450,000 to 20,000 in 50 years.
“We no longer have the luxury of time when it comes to big cats,” says Dereck.
“They are in such a downward spiral that if we hesitate now, we will be responsible for extinctions across the globe.
If there was ever a time to take action, it is now.”
Their latest movie “The Last Lions” narrated by Jeremy Irons released earlier this year in the US and is due to release in SA soon.

Thanks for all the responses and inputs on this discussion.

I think that genetic diversity in KNP must be influenced due to its "lion island" status .

The Jouberts also said "Its time to act now to save the habitat of lions or else they will be extinct in the wild with no self-sustaining populations of lions left in 15-20 years"
And this is mainly because of mans needs,greeds and over population we have driven and killed many species from their habitat. Lets hope and pray that people high up in places of power and conservation will realise we can`t afford to lose this part of our heritage in Africa and will try to come up with projects to save thier plight. THIS IS A BAD SITUATION HEY? and needs some drastic action.

This is shocking!

Hi

I was just thinking about the lions in Kruger.Maybe experts can give some information.

We have been visiting Kruger since I was a child in the early 90s
For some reason to me, you don't see lions like you used to.dont get me wrong, we still have great sightings of lions in KNP, but you don't see lions on kills like you used to back then.
Maybe it's just our luck, but I recall seeing lions on a kill many a time over the past yers, but recently no that many.

Was reading an article about lion bones are in high demand in certain countries.any1 know more about this?

Has anyone got he latest census on lions in KNP?

I remember one day we drove from skukuza to Phalaborwa on our way home, it was during the drought period and we saw over 90 lions in that 1 day.

I just hope the lion population is increasing!
After watching that one documentary with the husband and wife in Botswana, he says there won't be any lions in the wild in 20 years time!that is actually shocking and heart breaking!hope that's not true

Hi SAF.
You are about the same age as me as I also remember large amounts of lions in the early 90's on kills during my childhood holidays in Kruger.
Especially roads like the S100 at Satara regularly delivered up to 3 lion prides in one drive!
Maybe some scientists can comment but in my opinion those abundance of sightings in the early 90's drought years were a direct result of the drought.
Tourist roads run past many of the main water holes and in those drought years all the animals congregated around these areas (I still have some tick-lists from those years and when I look at it I can't believe how many animals we saw in one day!)
These congregations of animals of course attract large amounts of predators as well.
For interest sake: It has been proven that predators such as lions do better in drought years than in wet years and that they tend to switch more to buffalo in those years due to the weakening of these animals. Zebra and Wildebeest tend to increase in droughts but are once again targeted by lions in times of more rains and longer grass.
As far as I know the Kruger lion population is relatively stable at around 1,700 animals.
But I share your concern about the lion-bone market that threatens to become as severe as the rhino-horn trade.
Poaching of lions would have an even more devastating effect on the population than in the case of rhinos, due to lions' complex social structure.
You also can't breed "wild" lions on smallish farms as you can do with rhinos.
They need to have access to very large areas and need the pride social structure to learn to become effective hunters.
Lets hope this wave of poaching of our enigmatic and precious animals can be stopped, because I can't imagine a world without them.

Another interesting topic Here

According to some info, there are about +- 1700