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Photographer

CAN you feel the love tonight? This image of two lions was captured by photographer Taco van der Eb in the Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley.

The lions in this park climb trees – a relatively rare behaviour for the big cats, which normally inhabit grasslands and savannahs. Their motivation may be to avoid attacks by the park’s buffaloes, which could be adversely affecting lion numbers.

This lioness has a transmitter around her neck, allowing her to be tracked by researchers from Leiden University in the Netherlands, who are working with the Kenya Wildlife Service to understand how to better protect African lions.

The animals are in rapid decline in most of Africa, with fewer than 40,000 in the wild. In many regions, such as Western Sahara, they are already extinct. The decline has been attributed to indiscriminate killing by humans, habitat loss and dwindling numbers of prey.

Van der Eb accompanied researchers on field trips to four national parks in Kenya. To get an idea of the abundance of prey animals, the number of elephants, zebras, giraffes and rhinoceroses are recorded.

The team is also trying to discover whether fences around parks help conserve lion numbers by limiting their contact with humans. To date, this research suggests that unfenced parks are better, mirroring previous studies that indicate fencing can disrupt entire ecosystems, particularly affecting migratory species such as wildebeest.