The Amboseli Predator Project (APP) has recently been initiated on Olgulului and Eselenkei Group Ranches, north of Amboseli National Park. In recent years, lion killing has been prevalent in these regions and was the impetus for the expansion of the Living with Lions and Lion Guardian projects into these group ranches.

With this expansion, we are now tripling the size of the Lion Guardian project as well as expanding the LWL lion monitoring methods across the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem. Collaborating closely with KLCP and other conservation groups in the area, we will be systematically documenting the distribution and habitat use of lions and other carnivores as well as estimating changes in abundance of the lion population within the ecosystem to determine the broad population response to conservation programs.

The LWL methodologies aim to accurately assess the population status, trends and movements of carnivores, in particular lions, as well as their prey species over large areas with direct involvement of the Maasai communities.

The field and analysis methods required to meet our objectives include use of intensive monitoring of radio collared lions (primarily with GPS technology), DNA “finger printing” of individual lions, Geographic Information System (GIS) spatial modeling, and other procedures.

Lion Guardians across the ecosystem play an essential role in monitoring carnivores. For example, the Guardians conduct weekly sign surveys for density of predators and their prey species, carry out systematic weekly surveys for known and unknown lions in their areas, and assist in lion hair collection stations using baited barbed wire “hair corrals”.

A novel approach is taken by the Amboseli Predator Project by combining in-depth analyses of both the human and carnivore sides of the conflict. All of our goals are two-sided; when analyzing lion killing, we address both the Maasai who kill lions while also analyzing the effect indiscriminate killing has on lion populations.