BLANTYRE, Malawi ― African lions are declining due to the decrease in their herbivore prey, necessitating the need for increased prey protection measures to reverse this trend, a study says. According to the study published in the Conservation Science and Practice journal, preventing prey depletion can improve the lion’s reproduction and population growth in ecosystems affected by poaching for bushmeat. Large carnivores, including lions, the authors say, are declining throughout Africa, and conservation initiatives targeted at halting and reversing the collapse of large herbivore prey are likely to reduce bushmeat poaching even in vast, unfenced habitats that are strongholds of most of the lions (Panthera leo). Lion scratching itself in the morning sun in Kenya. Image by Rhett Butler/Mongabay. Panthera, an international nonprofit organization whose work contributed to the findings of the study, says that lions, as well as leopards, sit at the top of the food chain and serve as “umbrella species.” When their populations thrive and become plentiful, it leads to the protection of a range of species that make up the ecological community of their habitats and allows ecosystems to thrive. “Combining improved protection with improved programs for community conservation and coexistence in and around the communities living with these populations should substantially improve the prospects for lion conservation,” the study says. The study lists prey depletion alongside trafficking of skins and parts, habitat loss and conflict with humans and livestock as reasons for the decline of the apex carnivores. Currently, the IUCN Red List classifies the…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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