Hi Jack Basson - I have taken the liberty to add you to this group after your discussion was closed on the other Kruger group. To get back to the point you made regarding the competitive abilities of lions and hyenas, just a few points that need to be clarified from the original post. Lions and hyenas are both top predators and both conduct their fair share of scavenging and hunting. It is not really possible to suggest that one is superior to another. Each fulfils a unique niche in the environment. Secondly, lion numbers in Kruger are NOT in decline as a result of Bovine TB or FIV as some comments suggested. FIV is endemic within the lion population, but in Kruger very few lions are symptomatic. Bovine TB is NOT spread by contact with Mozambican refugees. It entered into Kruger in the early 60s as a result of contact between buffalo and cattle along the Crocodile River and has systematically spread through the Park since then. The first recorded case in lions was in the early 90s and since then only about 200 (in that region) lions have died directly as a result of Bovine TB. Where Bovine TB could have an impact is on the turnover rate of male lion coalitions - as males are weakened by BTB the turnover rate of coalitions increases and this may affect the productivity of prides in the long run, but as yet, there is no decline in the lion population. The numbers of lions and hyenas are very similar in Kruger because they are equally competitive and occupy similar niches. In the 70s, a predator culling programme was introduced in the central regions of Kruger and valuable lessons were learnt from that. One of the main outcomes was that after lion culling ceased the population of lions in that region staiblised at a higher level than before. It is thought that by culling lions, intraspecific competition was reduced leading to higher levels of cub survival. This means that cub survival is one of the most important regulators of lion populations. Once cubs survive the critical first 2 years, mortality rates drop considerably till old age. It is thus cub survival and not prey availability that regulates the size of lion populations. There is not an overabundance of lions in Kruger, there numbers have been relatively stable for some years now indicating that they are in ecological equilibrium with their environment.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 07:47:42 +0000
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