Walking on the wild side!
At Antelope Park ALERT is pleased to announce a new study in association with Utah State University. Derek O’Donnell, supervised by Dr Julie Young, will be arriving at the project in early March to conduct a PhD study “Can captive-origin lions learn the skills that make them suitable for release into the wild: a comparison of the development of wild and captive-origin lion cubs” (provisional title).
Alongside ALERT we are implementing a meticulously researched and carefully carried out programme of releasing captive-bred lions into the wild through using a 4 stage process. We see this programme as an African solution to an African problem.
Translocation for reintroduction to support declining lion populations is one conservation approach that is thought to be increasingly necessary for the African lion. Though there are several advantages to using wild-caught animals in translocations, there are many biological, social, and political problems that may arise from using these animals. However the approach also offers several potential advantages for successful, long-term conservation of African lions that cannot be ignored.
There are many speculations of the risks involved in using captive bred lions as a source of reintroduction programs, however there is no published scientific information on the ability of such a program to succeed or fail. The African Lion Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild Program will begin conducting research on the cubs born in a release area to answer the fundamental question associated with captive-origin reintroduction programs: can the cubs born in a managed-wild environment to captive-bred lions develop and behave in a manner similar to truly wild, free-ranging lion cubs, such that they will learn the skills that will allow them to survive in the wild post-release? Developmental, social, territorial and other behaviours, will be studied in the offspring of our released lion pride at the Ngamo release site, and these behaviours will later be compared to those expressed by the offspring of truly wild free-ranging lion prides to answer this question.
To help with the development and research of our hands on with lions programme in Antelope Park click here!
