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Reintroduction of Lions to Rwanda

6/29/2015

Lions went extinct in Rwanda 15 years ago after the 1994 genocide when the Akagera National Park went unmanaged and cattle herders poisoned many of the animal species. And this week, in a big conservation effort, seven lions, 5 females and 2 males, are being relocated from the South African province of KwaZulu Natal to repopulate Rwanda with lions. They are starting their journey from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg to Rwanda today!

But are South African lions the best option for reintroduction to this area? Rwanda is part of eastern Africa, adjacent to Tanzania and closely residing to Kenya, one of the largest populations of lions in Africa.

This new Rwandan population is already going to have to deal with potential issues with inbreeding from the small size of its starting population and being isolated from its neighboring lion populations. But other issues could arise if/when the population is no longer isolated if the founding population is from the wrong stock.

There has been enough research done on lions to have determined that eastern and southern lions cluster separately phylogenetically, meaning they have enough genetic differences to show there is some sort of structure amongst them. There hasn’t been enough research, however, to determine if there are enough genetic differences to differentiate between the two entities, or if we can split them into what some people might refer to as subspecies. Part of the research I am conducting is to further establish whether lions can be classified as regionally distinct, or subspecies, and if translocating southern African lions into eastern African lion territories, and vice versa, would be detrimental or beneficial to the population.

Reintroduction through Translocation

beneficial if not subspecies – creates greater genetic diversity & increases adaptive abilities
detrimental if subspecies – can reduce fitness & decrease adaptive abilities (outbreeding depression)

Red: The lions' translocation route from South Africa to Rwanda
Green: Tanzania and Kenya

Part of the reason I want to look at the historic genetics and compare it to the modern is to determine if there is a recent or evolutionary background for regional markers. All the anthropogenic effects of the past 100 years could have had a lot of impact on the genetics of lions across the continent and we don't know in which direction, creating or destroying rationality. Hopefully more research and larger sample sizes (like it my study) will help answer these questions.

They say these animals were "selected based on future reproductive potential and their ability to contribute to social cohesion". They may have chosen lions originating so far from Rwanda because with translocations there is the issue of the animals trying to get back to their home but I still wonder why they didn't use lions from Tanzania or Kenya. Lions native to Rwanda probably would have been more closely related to them, cost of transport probably would have been less... I wonder what kind of politics I don't know about it behind this as well...

Update:
7/1/2015 - While doing a bit more research combing through article after article reading the same shpeal over and over I finally found something that somewhat confirmed my suspicion but with no real concrete evidence... there is political mumbo jumbo afoot....

The Christian Science Monitor (um, the what?) says that Kenya offered to donate eight lions to Rwanda last year but Kenya's wildlife conservation groups fiercely opposed the plan saying "Rwanda had not sufficiently addressed issues that resulted to the loss of its own lion population."

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Off the List

6/26/2015

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The eastern cougar, Puma concolor couguar, is officially being removed from the endangered species list. It is being declared extinct since an eastern cougar has not been seen since 1938. The decision is based on an extensive review by the US Fish and Wildlife Services which included "the best available scientific and historic information [which we now know from my lion research isn't the best scientific and historic information, just the best available of the resources accessible to us lowly wildlife researchers], queried 21 states and eastern Canadian provinces, and reviewed hundreds of reports from the public." It's not that there haven't been any cougars seen, it's just that they claim that any cougars seen in the east in the past 77 years are a result of dispersing animals from western populations or animals that have been released or escaped from captivity. These claims come from more than 100 reports dating back to 1900.

There isn't much genetic research on the puma (FYI: puma, cougar, mountain lion, catamount, panther... all the same thing, just depends on where you are and who you talk to). The scientific community seems to be quite torn about taxonomic assessment and there has been much debate around subspecies distinction, particularly in the case of using cougars in Texas to repopulate the Florida panther population. Some say they are distinct enough that they shouldn't be hybridized while others say they are the same so one can successfully repopulate the other. According to the Federal Register, "the best available information continues to support the assignment of the eastern taxon to Puma concolor couguar as distinct from other North American subspecies" based primarily on biology and life history.

The proposal to remove the eastern cougar from the endangered species list does not affect the status of the endangered Florida panther subspecies, a cluster of conservation genetics issues to discuss in more detail at another time. But, although the extinct animals will no longer be protected under the Endangered Species Act, which is intended to save animals and plants that still have a recorded population, it will also no longer be able to be used to protect similar animals, such as the Florida panther. Not sure if that matters since the Florida panther is already protected (and possibly diluted with Texas cougar) but its interesting nonetheless.

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Throwback Third Thursday - June 2015

6/18/2015

Throwback Third Thursday (#tbtt) is a tribute to the dude who's taught me the ways of the world. This year I share turning 31 with the celebration of awesome dad's everywhere, which I am totally cool with because I have the awesomest dad of 'em all!

Come Sunday,
Happy Father's Day and
Happy Birthday to Me!

Cute Predators

6/16/2015

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I am all about the predators. The "ominous" creatures often get a bad wrap but, like it or not, "scary" predators are a necessary "evil" for a healthy ecosystem. While scouring the interwebs today, I found these artistic representations of predators so adorable you don't even mind that their sinking their teeth into something cuddly. Mmmmmm meat.