Demography of lions (panthera leo) in Tarangire national park, Tanzania

Abstract

Tarangire lions reveal similar population characteristics to most of other lion populations in other protected areas in Africa. Tarangire lion population was estimated to be around 155 individuals as in June 2013 based on individual identification facilitated by the use of Radio telemetry coupled with the use of GPS to get information on individual lions within a specific pride to determine their location and characteristics. The population had a density of 7.5 lions per 100 square kilometers. The sex ratio was 1 male to 1.2 females more in favor of females but cubs had a sex ratio of 1 male to 1 female. The age composition was dominated by prereproductive age class (cubs and sub-adults), which constitutes 63.9% of the whole population. There was a total of 9 prides residing the park, the number of lions in the pride ranges from 238 individuals with the mean of 17.2 individuals. Cub survival was high with the average of 70.8% of all cubs born survived to year one. The overall population trend shows declining curve which suggests more conservation efforts are needed to make it stable.