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My Life is Crap

I do research on lions, hear me ROAR!

4/23/2017

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Once upon a time, scientists had faith in their president and government. They believed they were advocates of progress and defenders of the planet. These days, massive cuts to funding, freezes in government agencies employing scientists, and attacks on facts have caused a lot of doubt in our government and it's relationship with science.
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Yesterday was Earth Day and thousands of scientists WORLDWIDE marched to show solidarity for the importance of science. I attended the Bryan/College Station March for Science which was small but did a great job of including the local community. As one of the largest research universities in the United States, Texas A&M University does a lot of ground breaking research but most of the community probably doesn't know much about it unless they are directly associated with it in some way. After the march we had a Science Town Hall. There were science demos, the opportunity to "Meet a Scientist" and talks on how science is a part of everyone's life. 
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I think our little event was a success. And, as for the marches around the globe, I don't know how much it will effect policy, but it got people excited about science. And support from the public is just as crucial to policy as support from politicians, as one can lead to the other.
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I took part in the "Meet a Scientist" portion of the festivities. Carrying around my lion skull instead of a protest poster was a great conversation starter. I talked to a lot of people about conservation, lions, bones, genetics, graduate school, etc. I passed my card out to teachers who were interested in having scientists come talk to their students and ended up having a great conversation about Conservation Genetics with someone who said they had never heard of it before. It was exhausting but I had a lot of fun.
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It's All Semantics

3/29/2017

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It has been a rough few months. The Trump administration cannot be accused of being uneventful. I initially wrote this post as a rant in January when, after only a week in office, the Trump administration was imposing a freeze on EPA grants, made 'alternative facts' a daily concern and seemed to have offended everyone in science, regardless of their political affiliation. Being a 5th year graduate student (BUSY BUSY BUSY), trying to still do science so I can get a job in science even though there's a war on science, it's been tough to find the time to finish many posts (I have 6 started... so they'll get there eventually). For now, here's my rant...
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With our country's political dichotomy, terms like "climate change" and "global warming" cause more division than unification. "Climate change" and "global warming" are terms of a global scale when many don't grasp much outside of a local scale. So, you'll probably find more people who think we have a responsibility to the environment than who believe in "global warming". 
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"Global warming" is a misnomer, giving nonbelievers ammo for their argument, and "climate change" is used as a political power play to further agendas rather than what might actually be best action. In reality, we are living in a changing environment and whether you believe it is because it's being caused by people or not, there is scientific evidence showing change. 

So, regardless of these terms and how their usage effects the public, the environment still undergoes change and, despite personal political beliefs, we, as a species on this planet, have a responsibility of helping the environment and not making conditions worse.

Compromise must be made between sides to make something abstract more tangible. My recommendation, take those terms out of it and focus on actual, tangible issues.

My lion example (sorry for all the commas but try to follow me): Climate change isn't reducing the home range of the African lion, anthropogenic factors (things that are a result of human activity), such as humans coming into lion habitat, which, in turn, changes the landscape, do. A focus on alleviating human-wildlife conflict, teaching carnivore-friendly land use, and the creation of corridors to preserve passageways for movement of species across people dominated areas, for example, will better serve the lion population than trying to "stop climate change." It's something people can more readily relate to and inevitably leads to that bigger picture that "climate change" is trying to encompass but is too abstract for many to understand. It's the same goal just a refocus of the issue. And, I think, the lion conservation community is doing this well.
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I've Been Published Again!

10/4/2016

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The Applied Biodiversity Science Perspectives Series has released it's 2016 issue and one of the articles was written by ME!
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Texas A&M TODAY
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The Perspectives Series is a student-created, student-managed publication whose mission is to communicate conservation research being conducted by undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty in the field of applied biodiversity to a broader audience of academics, practitioners, and the public. 

The collection of articles in this year's Perspectives Series shares with you the insights and experiences of graduate students and faculty focused on conservation and biodiversity issues in Africa.

Applied biodiversity brings multiple perspectives together—from ecology and psychology, to genetics and anthropology—to address the global challenge of reducing the loss of biodiversity and its impacts on human livelihoods.
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This year’s issue can be read and downloaded at: ​
ABS Perspectives Series #6
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Show Me the Money

9/8/2016

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For the second year in a row, I am a recipient of the Dan L. Duncan Scholarship presented by the Houston Safari Club and the American Conservation and Education Society.  This year, 24 students with a desire to protect and promote hunting and the principles of conservation were given the award in front of Houston Safari Club members at their September monthly meeting. Gary Rose (far right) did a remarkable job introducing us all, bragging about all our various accomplishments like a proud parent.
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​​This was my last year of eligibility for the award but so far during my tenure as a recipient, I've met many interesting people and have learned a lot about the industry. Thank you to Houston Safari Club for supporting me and my goals of African lion research and conservation!

Other news on the funding front, my project received 2 grants from Dallas Safari Club! An anonymous donor through the organization is paying for the Freezer/Mill I need to process all my bone samples and I received their general grant, highlighted on the grants page of their website with a photo of a lion!

Coupled with the money you all graciously donated through the Experiment.com Cat Challenge crowdfunding campaign (for which I came in 2nd), my project has enough funding to get me through the year!!!
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World Lion Day (and s'mores)

8/10/2016

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Today is World Lion Day (RAWR) so to celebrate I am going to share with you a paper recently published by a close colleague of mine, Dr. Laura Bertola, and company. Laura completed her PhD at Universiteit Leiden (that’s in the Netherlands) last year on genetic diversity of the lion focusing on phylogenetic patterns and how populations in West and Central Africa fall in comparison to the rest of the population. 
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​In their recent publication, they “challenge current lion taxonomy” emphasizing the need for rethinking the way we view the species on the population level. To challenge taxonomy means they question how the species is classified or labeled. For the lion, currently there are two officially recognized subspecies (internationally or nationally).
Panthera leo leo and Panthera leo persica (CITES/IUCN: International)
or

Panthera leo melanochaita and Panthera leo leo (USFWS/ESA: National)
*For the purposes of their study, we’ll be focusing on the international CITES classification. 
Laura and her colleagues argue there should be more.
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​Based on their phylogeny (the pretty tree looking thing on the right), there is a definite North Group and South Group (similar to the findings in my study). Within each of these groups, they were able to identify regions which could narrows lions down further into 6 populations. So, very basically, they’re saying from these findings they can put a lion into 1 of 6 groups based on these genetic markers.
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The innovative part of this analysis was the addition of a comparison to other species who are recognized to have subspecies and show similar Sub-Saharan population distribution. The study identified 46 animals that show a distinction between West/Central African and East/Southern Africa populations. While some animals are recognized as being more than one species – known as a complex – such as Baboon (5), Rock hyrax (5) and Oryx (3), others are species separated into subspecies, such as Giraffe (9; below), Black (4) and White (2) Rhino, and Caracal (8). Only 13 of the 46 animals aren’t separated between West/Central and East/Southern, including the lion, according to CITES.
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​The ESA classification is a little closer to demonstrating the Sub-Saharan distribution taxonomically by clumping the West/Central population with the Asiatic population. However, based on these results, lions may be able to be classified even more specifically. Hopefully my research will be able to shed a little more light on this. The help Laura is giving me to continue this investigation is immeasurable.

In case you forgot, today is also National S'more Day and I just bought this....
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from San Diego based online marshmallow shop Mallow Mallow.
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128 and counting

6/8/2016

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My dissertation project has gotten some great news this week. Today we received 30 lion specimens from the Field Museum of Natural History!
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This brings us to a grand total of 128 specimens for analysis from the American Museum of Natural History, the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History and, now, the Field Museum of Natural History!

We were also able to get a piece of much needed equipment provided to us through a generous donation by the Dallas Safari Club. With this equipment, I will finally be able to start processing the many bone samples I have collected in-house! Without having to travel to another University to use their equipment, this will help us to cut costs and save loads of time.

​It's been a great week, and it's only Wednesday!
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It's getting crowded in here!

5/19/2016

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Today I start my first stab at crowdfunding. My dissertation project has been selected to be a project in the Cat Challenge on the crowdfunding site Experiment.com. This site is different than most other crowdfunding sites in that it is strictly for research and all projects are vetted by a panel of professionals before being launched. On general crowdfunding sites, anyone can start a campaign so, really, anyone can claim they're doing research. On Experiment.com, every project is rigorously reviewed, provided feedback, and scientifically approved so you know, as a financial backer, you can be confident you are funding real research. And through their website, us researchers are able to easily keep our backers up to date on the progress of our research.
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My profile can be found at Experiment.com/liondiversity
​(Make sure to watch my promo video. It took me about 24 hours to write, research, film and edit!)
The Challenge is 2-fold:
  1. Raise the full value of my GOAL by
  2. getting lots of BACKERS (people like you) to support my research

The project with the most BACKERS will receive an extra $1,000 added to their GOAL.
Our GOAL is $5,000 and we must receive 100% of our GOAL to get any of the money donated by the BACKERS.

PLEASE HELP!

Go to Experiment.com/liondiversity and show some support by making a donation. Any little bit helps! The more people who make donations the better. You can also help by spreading the word.

The Challenge (# of BACKERS) runs from today to Friday, June 10 @ 6PM ET
The Campaign (100% of GOAL) runs from today to Saturday, June 18

​Your support is much appreciated! THANKS!!!
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Dollars vs. Fences

4/11/2016

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"If land managers in Africa were as well funded as Yellowstone National Park, at around $4,100 per square kilometer, they could afford to manage the average unfenced lion population at around two- thirds its potential size, a step up from the current status quo. Despite the utility of ecotourism and trophy hunting for lion conservation in general, only a small proportion of that revenue typically becomes available to wildlife managers."
              —
Jason G. Goldman​, Scientific American (April 2016), 314, 12-14
   ​               Published online: 15 March 2016 | 
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0416-12
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CREDIT: MICHAEL NICHOLS Getty Images
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A Lion Decision's Been Made

1/22/2016

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If you haven’t heard yet, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) has made a ruling to list the lion as two subspecies under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Effective today, under the ESA (this is an important distinction), the lion will now be Panthera leo leo and Panthera leo melanchaita.
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Panthera leo leo are the western and central populations of African lion and the Asiatic lion. These populations have approx. 1,400 lions with about 900 in 14 African populations and 523 in India. These populations have seen the most dramatic declines. USFWS claims newly available scientific information make these populations more genetically related and due to the severity of the threats to these populations, have decided to list them all as one subspecies which meet the definition of endangered under the ESA.​
IUCN still recognizes Panthera leo leo as being all African lions
Panthera leo melanchaita, which consists of the rest of the populations in East and Southern Africa, however, is not listed as endangered. They claim this population consists of 17,000-19,000 lions (but this estimation comes from a study that acknowledges that their estimates are “intrinsically imprecise” and previous estimations range from 23,000-39,000 so the exact number is still a bit hazy). USFWS says “this subspecies is less vulnerable and is not currently in danger of extinction.” 
Panthera leo melanchaita was previously considered to be the now extinct Cape Lion, which has also been proven not to be a genetically distinct subspecies but rather a difference in weather induced morphology.
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The ruling also includes some new regulations on hunting permit requirements. Anyone convicted of or who has pled guilty to violations of wildlife laws will be denied a permit. They will also only allow the importation of sport-hunted trophies from countries with established conservation programs and well-managed lion populations to help support and strengthen the accountability of conservation programs in other nations.
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This ruling seems fair but their use of previously and currently used subspecies names may get a little convoluted in the overall scheme of things. It seems as though USFWS is showing a genuine concern in looking after the best interest of the African lion but I think more research is still needed (and not just because I’m one of the ones doing it) to make decisions that will be beneficial for both the lions and the countries they live in.
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I'm a Published Author!

12/16/2015

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The manuscript I have been working so hard on for most of the year has finally been published!  

My first publication, Mitochondrial Haplotype Diversity in Zambian Lions: Bridging a Gap in the Biogeography of an Iconic Species, was made live today, December 16th, 2015!  I am now officially a published author!

PictureTable 4. Molecular diversity indices and nucleotide composition.
The paper is about matrelineal gene flow and genetic diversity of lions in Zambia. We found that lions in Zambia have a high level of diversity but can be separated into two sub-populations with little to no matrelineal gene flow between the two. The separation could be historical but it more likely due to an expanse of cities and roads that inhibit modern day dispersal because, when put in context with the entire range of the African lion, Zambia acts as a bridge connecting Southern and Eastern lion populations. This is all based on analysis of mitochondrial genes and the discovery of 5 sets of DNA variations (haplotypes) thus far not seen anywhere else in Africa.

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Fig 1. Map of Zambia showing the five main areas sampled: LV (Luangwa Valley); CO (Corridor); ZA (Lower Zambezi); KF (Kafue); and SI (Sioma Ngwezi).
Eastern region consists of LV, CO and ZA. Western region consists of KF and SI. More detailed location information for each sample is available in S1 Table.
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Fig 2. Geographic location of lion samples and phylogenetic relationship of 12S-16S.
(A) Range-wide map of lions sampled. Circles indicate geographic locations for populations determined by Antunes et al. [13]. Zambia is denoted by a square. All locations aside from ZAM (Zambia) were established by Antunes et al. 2009: UGA (Uganda); KEN (Kenya); SER (Serengeti National Park, Tanzania); NGC (Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania); KRU (Kruger National Park, South Africa); BOT-I (Southern Botswana and Kalahari, South Africa); BOT-II (Northern Botswana); NAM (Namibia); GIR (Gir Forest, India); ANG (Angola); ZBW (Zimbabwe); and MOR (Morocco). (B) Bayesian analysis with posterior probability values on the nodes. H1-H12 are haplotypes that were described by Antunes et al. 2009 and Z1-Z5 are novel haplotypes so far only found within Zambia.
Here's my official citation:
​Curry CJ, White PA, Derr JN (2015) Mitochondrial Haplotype Diversity in Zambian Lions: Bridging a Gap in the Biogeography of an Iconic Species. PLoS ONE 10(12): e0143827. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0143827
I am currently working on a press release for this paper and I have already started writing my next publication, hopefully with two others soon to follow after that. My goal is that by the time I finish my PhD I will have at least 5 publications. Let the fun begin!
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The Coolest Blood Supermoon Photo You'll See

9/29/2015

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It was too cloudy in College Station to see the eclipse.  It's nice that someone was able to capture a magical moment!
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Lion Cub and the Supermoon Eclipse
Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mk III and 17-40mm f/4 lens on a BeetleCam. f/13, 8 seconds, ISO 3200.
Off-camera flash triggered with Camtraptions Wireless Trigger.
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Throwback Third Thursday - August 2015

8/20/2015

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Throwback to two weeks ago when I was in New York City at the American Museum of Natural History Department of Mammology delving through cabinet after cabinet and shelf after shelf of animals bones diggings for ancient DNA treasures!
Bone, tissue and hide from these animals will be used in the historic portion of my research which will be comparing modern lions to lions that existed prior to extensive management and translocation efforts of the last 100 years. Dr. Derr and I had our hands on lions as old as 1886 (and possibly older because some of them didn't have documented dates).
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Akeley's lions (although I like to call them my lions)
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It wasn't all work... we did work in some play! :)
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Throwback Third Thursday - July 2015

7/16/2015

 
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This Throwback Third Thursday (#tbtt) is a bit different in that it is a throwback to a icon in honor of a couple trips I am making for my research in the next few weeks; first to Fort Worth for some training then to New York City for sample collection.  

The photo to the left is of taxidermist, sculptor, biologist, conservationist, inventor, and nature photographer Carl Akeley. He is with one of the lionesses he shot while on an excursion to Africa in 1909 with Teddy Roosevelt which is now housed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City where I will be in just a few weeks collecting historic lion samples. Next week I will be visiting the Institute of Applied Genetics at the University of North Texas Health Science Center to learn DNA collection and extraction techniques from forensics experts.  I will be bringing bones from various species with me to "play around with" to become an expert before I start the real work with the few valuable pieces of material I am able to procure from the museum.  I am SO excited for what's coming up the next few months.  It's going to be VERY busy but VERY exciting.  

I forgot to mention I also have my preliminary examinations scheduled for the beginning of September as well.  Yeah... this summer is jam packed (and slightly stressful).  But it's all going to be awesome!

Reintroduction Update

7/13/2015

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The lions have been almost fully "reintroduced".  They have been awakened in Rwanda and initial introductions have been made in the form of quarantine bomas.  They will spend 14 days in these bomas acclimating to their new Rwandan home and getting used to the sites, sounds and smells of their new home.  Apparently, the local baboon troupe isn't too happy about it.
The non-profit African Parks, an organization charged on taking total responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in partnership with governments, wildlife organizations and local communities, was responsible for the management of the translocation efforts.  They are a management organization with a focus on the generation of sustainable income streams to pay for running costs and capital replacements. Although they seem to have an economic focus, they do have a conservation approach and mention long-term biodiversity restoration in their model. This seems like a great organization, taking on the financial burdens that often plight national parks, my only concern is that with this move of South African lions into Rwanda rather than eastern African lions into Rwanda is that the individuals making the decisions regarding long-term biodiversity restoration may not fully understand what biodiversity and biodiversity restoration means.
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Reintroduction of Lions to Rwanda

6/29/2015

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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!
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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.

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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)
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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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    Caitlin Curry

    I am a biologist and my life is crap!

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