WCS’s long-term vision is for lions to be at carrying capacity in all of the sites where we are working to conserve them. Phys.org is a part of Science X network. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. This includes 1) Ensuring that rangers have the ability to do their job effectively, through focused ranger training programs, provision of equipment, and ensuring that they are compensated adequately. Identify the news topics you want to see and prioritize an order. This decline is due to increasing human populations, and the spread of subsistence and commercial-scale agriculture; latterly, climate change is also playing a role, and corridors connecting populations are being lost due to the spread of development, agriculture, and of large infrastructure projects. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Tech Xplore in any form. the Science X network is one of the largest online communities for science-minded people. The reserve contains one of the largest remaining elephant populations in West Africa and one of only two lion populations left in Nigeria. Note: Yankari Game Reserve Under a starless night sky in Yankari Game Reserve, Martial Kiki stands on the back of a ... lions during a lion population count at Yankari Nature Reserve in Nigeria Formerly widespread across northern Nigeria, today lions survive in only two sites in the country: Kainji Lake National Park and Yankari Game Reserve. Recent genetic studies have highlighted the difference between lions in West and Central Africa from those in southern and East Africa, suggesting that lions in West and Central Africa may merit distinct taxonomic status. In Nigeria, lions have disappeared from unprotected areas and are nowadays found ... Population size of lions in Yankari Game Reserve as revealed by faecal DNA sampling - Tende - 2010 - African Journal of Ecology - Wiley Online Library Yankari is one of the only two sites in Nigeria where lions still exist. can go and entertain with your family, I had met with different peoples from United State, England, Germany, Australia, Kenya, Cameroon … In theory, the lions are supposed to hear the buffalo and come for an easy meal. Email from: Unmaintained roads render swathes of the reserve inaccessible to rangers' patrol vehicles, which gun-toting, machete-wielding poachers who hunt on foot exploit. Yankari National Park is located in Bauchi State (north-eastern Nigeria), and was established as a game reserve in 1956 and officially became a national park in 1991. THREATS More than 90% of the lion’s original range has now been lost across Africa. * We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. In addition, Yankari Game Reserve also supports important populations of lion, buffalo, hippo, roan and hartebeest. Conservation Education and Raising Levels of Awareness within local communities is essential for long-term success and a vitally important part of our work. THREATS More than 90% of the lion’s original range has now been lost across Africa. Community Conservation. 3) Improving the efficiency of patrols by establishing intelligence networks through local communities to identify potential poachers and their mode and area of operations. There has been no response, no tracks," he said, inadvertently likening the situation to one of the darkest scenes from Disney's "The Lion King", when the protagonist's pride is overrun by a pack of mangy scavengers. There is no simple solution to saving the West African lions, whose males have shorter manes than their southern counterparts, and in December were listed as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Re: Yankari Games Reserves In … Effective Law Enforcement and Protected Area Management is the key to conserving lions and their prey. As an apex predator, it is a keystone species ecologically, and its population status in an area is indicative of the health of the ecosystem as a whole. From the white Toyota Hilux, its sides lacerated by branches, the 31-year-old researcher from the republic of Benin plays the tormented sound of a distressed buffalo calf over a megaphone. WCS fully recognizes that it is essential to involve local people in conservation efforts to save lions in Nigeria. Although lions are classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, lion populations in West Africa are particularly small and fragmented and have been recently classified as Critically Endangered. We visit yankari in may 2011 and we enjoyed the reserve ; and we saw wildlife such as lion, bushbuck, monkeys, waterbuck, and we did nt see elephants and others. Yankari game reserve was established as a natures reserve in 1956 and has since been through to its purpose. Habitat loss has led to some populations becoming small and isolated, especially in West Africa. white lions can live in the wild but they can also live in zoo's. Yankari Game Reserve contains Nigeria’s largest elephant population, currently estimated at around 100 Since 2014 Yankari has been co-managed through a partnership agreement between WCS and Bauchi State Government, with funding support from Bauchi State, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Elephant Crisis Fund and the Wildlife Conservation Society "I expected to see more than this," Kiki told AFP in the heart of the reserve, an expanse of savannah the size of Luxembourg in Nigeria's northeast, dubbed the country's "richest wildlife oasis". We do not guarantee individual replies due to extremely high volume of correspondence. With the loss of their natural prey lions have little option but to feed upon domestic livestock, the increase in human-lion conflict inevitably results in their direct persecution – typically by poisoning livestock carcasses. This includes 1) Ensuring that rangers have the ability to do their job effectively, through focused ranger training programs, provision of equipment, and ensuring that they are compensated adequately. There are only two areas in Nigeria home to lions: Kainji Lake National Park, in the northwest, where some 30 cats are living, and Yankari, where … Under a starless night sky in Yankari Game Reserve, Martial Kiki stands on the back of a battered pick-up truck searching for the last lions in Nigeria. Under a starless night sky in Yankari Game Reserve, Martial Kiki stands on the back of a battered pick-up truck searching for the last lions in Nigeria. Parks famous for their lions, including Tanzania's Serengeti Park and South Africa's Kruger National Park, run on a budget of approximately $500 (450 euros) per square kilometre (0.3 square miles). 4) Ensuring that due legal process is followed for anyone apprehended, by capacity building for better case management to increase the effectiveness of prosecutions, and raising awareness in the judiciary about wildlife crime and the laws to prevent it. Please, allow us to send you push notifications with new Alerts. The park still holds reasonable numbers of buffaloes, waterbucks, bushbucks, hippos and plenty of baboons. Optional (only if you want to be contacted back). Lion body parts in traditional medicine Table 1 indicates the 22 lion body parts utilized for healing and preventive medicine in the three provinces surrounding Yankari Game Reserve (YGR). In Yankari our schools-based education outreach program includes regular field trips to Yankari and focuses on the ecological importance played by lions in helping to control herbivores and disease. A wildlife park originally created as a game reserve in 1956, it was designated as Nigeria’s biggest national park in 1991. Then Kiki would shine a floodlight on the hungry, nocturnal cats and count them for a population estimate. With chronic mismanagement in the past and underfunding, Yankari today is struggling to attract the funds it needs to preserve its last lions. CONSERVATION SIGNIFICANCE The lion Panthera leo is one of the world’s best known and most charismatic species. With some luck you one can encounter elephants, waterbucks, bushbucks, hippos, crocodiles and the occasional lion. This Premier Game Reserve is spread across 2,058 sq km of Savanna woodland. Researcher Martial Kiki (left) walks through the bush with rangers during a lion population estimate at Nigeria's Yankari Game Reserve, "Now everywhere we're going there are hyena prints.". Field work is difficult. In this time, Africa will have seen major increases in its human population and development, but with the appropriate strategy and actions across the continent, we believe that this can - and must - be achieved. In Yankari our schools-based education outreach program includes regular field trips to Yankari and focuses on the ecological importance played by lions in helping to control herbivores and disease. "We just need money to do it.". This has led to some populations becoming small and isolated, especially in West Africa.In Nigeria this precipitous decline is linked to severe depletion of their natural prey base due to hunting and habitat loss. At the same time, human population growth and agricultural expansion is causing an unprecedented influx of nomadic livestock into protected areas as alternative grazing reserves disappear. More than 90% of the lion’s original range has now been lost across Africa. Yankari Game Reserve is a large wildlife park located in Bauchi State, in northeastern Nigeria. "You know when you are standing on the same ground as the lion, you feel how strong they are, you can feel your heart beating. Engagement with livestock and pastoralism including strengthening land tenure and grazing rights for local pastoralists, creation of grazing reserves, as well as essential health and husbandry interventions to ensure livestock rearing is compatible with wildlife conservation. By the end of his trip, it's clear Kiki's survey will only serve to document the last lions living in Nigeria unless a dramatic conservation effort is put in place—and fast. It covers an area of about 2,244 square kilometers (866 sq mi) and is home to several natural warm water springs, as well as a wide variety of flora and fauna. Over the next 25 years, our goal is to increase lion populations by 50% in all of the WCS sites where lions occur. Yankari game reserve is located at Bauchi state Nigeria, is the best reserve in Nigeria where you can go with your family and friends to see different type of animals like, Lion, Elephant, Gorillas, Crocodiles and many more, there are beautiful places in the reserve where you. Yankari game reserve is one of Nigeria’s best parks for observing wildlife. Here you can only see lions in pictures.". Yankari National Park is an important refuge for over 50 mammal species including African bush elephant, olive baboon, patas monkey, Tantalus monkey, roan antelope, western hartebeest, West African lion, African buffalo, waterbuck, bushbuck and hippopotamus. Numbers for West Africa are dire, with just 400 lions remaining in the region Fortunately, lions can breed rapidly, so have high recovery potential if threats can be abated. * Cross River National Park (Okwangwo Division), Cross River National Park (Oban Division), Yankari_Quarterly Report_January-March 2020, Yankari_Quarterly Report_October-December 2019, Yankari_Quarterly Report_July-September 2019. This has led to some populations becoming small and isolated, especially in West Africa.In Nigeria this precipitous decline is linked to severe depletion of their natural prey base due to hunting and habitat loss. Science X Daily and the Weekly Email Newsletter are free features that allow you to receive your favorite sci-tech news updates in your email inbox, © Phys.org 2003 - 2020 powered by Science X Network. Community Conservation. Science X Daily and the Weekly Email Newsletters are free features that allow you to receive your favourite sci-tech news updates. 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