‘Florence’, a 9-10 year-old lioness, has been photographed and video graphed with her third litter of three cubs
Florence and her cubs. Photo: Panthera/DPN/Everatt World Wildlife Day 2023 threw up a pleasant surprise for the Critically Endangered West African lion. Panthera, an organisation working for wild felid conservation globally, along with Senegal’s Department of National Parks (DPN) released footage and photos of a West African lioness and her three cubs as they nurse, play, and feed in Senegal’s Niokolo Koba National Park (NKNP).
The high-definition videos and photos were captured with remote camera traps in time for World Wildlife Day March 3, a statement by Panthera said. They feature ‘Florence,’ a 9 to 10-year-old GPS-collared lioness that scientists believe has now given birth to three litters — nine cubs in total — since 2021.
The lioness has contributed approximately a third of the park’s lion population and is now considered a ‘matriarch’.
Florence or Flo was the first lion in Senegal – and only lioness out of six individuals – to be collared in 2021.
There was a scare after two years when her collar stopped functioning last month. It was feared that she had been killed by poachers, a male lion or a buffalo.
But after an intensive search which involved placing camera traps in the national park, it was revealed that Florence had been denning. She had taken refuge in a patch of dense forest to deliver her litter of three cubs.
Today, just 120-374 West African lions are estimated to remain in the wild, with their historic range having shrunk by 99 per cent, according to Panthera.
Lions were recently classified into two subspecies: Panthera leo leo or ‘northern lion’ of west Africa, north Africa, West Asia and India and Panthera leo melanochaita or the ‘southern lion’, that inhabits eastern and southern Africa.
The West African or Senegalese lion is genetically distinct from the lions of southern and eastern Africa and part of the Northern lion subspecies. It has a thin mane and a lanky body, according to Panthera.
The lion is the official symbol of Senegal and the national football team mascot, along with being highlighted in the country’s anthem.
West African lions have suffered particularly dramatic population declines due to illegal hunting of the species’ prey, poaching for the illegal wildlife trade, direct killing over livestock depredation and loss of habitat.
In 2011, the lion population in the UNESCO World Heritage site NKNP was 10-15 individuals. It has risen to 30 today due to persistent anti-poaching and scientific monitoring efforts.
The 30 lions in NKNP include the park’s first lion coalition, formed by three males, who are Florence’s cubs. The Panthera statement called this an especially encouraging sign of lion recovery, as such units are formed only when numbers are high enough to warrant competition between males.
Scientists from the organisation estimate that NKNP can support 180-240 lions. They formed a partnership with the DPN in 2017. The goal is to increase NKNP’s lion population to 50 by 2025 and 100 lions by 2030.
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