Human-lion conflicts may increase due to shrinking lion habitat, lack of food availability, warns study
Representative photo from iStock Increasing human land use, combined with the impacts of climate change, has altered lion behaviour in Africa, according to a new study.
Lions tend to avoid human-dominated areas and depredate on them only when there is a dearth of food and habitat fragmentation, according to the University of Michigan-led research titled Tradeoffs between resources and risks shape the responses of a large carnivore to human disturbance published in the Journal Communications Biology on October 17, 2023.
Human-lion conflicts may increase, considering the shrinking of lion habitat and lack of food availability, the study warned.
The team of international researchers analysed 23 studies from 31 sites in Africa that make up about 40 per cent of the global lion range. They found that lions in over two-thirds of sites intentionally avoided areas with human disturbance and preferred to hunt primarily at night.
The peculiar behaviour was observed more in locations where resident humans had a high livestock population which could escalate the risks of human-lion conflict.
The study noted that almost half of the current lion range lies outside protected areas, demanding the carnivores to navigate in diminished habitat dominated by humans.
In a press statement issued by the university, the study’s lead author, Kirby Mills, a postdoctoral research fellow at U-M’s Institute for Global Change Biology said:
Our study found that understanding the complex responses of wildlife to human disturbance—such as agricultural land or towns—is a key first step in fostering coexistence between humans and wildlife.
It noted that the overall expansion of human impacts and environmental changes in lion habitats make them vulnerable and downgrade their access to nutrition and food due to reduction in suitable habitat and resources. The impact on their nutrition is likely to intensify human-lion conflicts.
“Predators will increasingly access more disturbed areas to acquire adequate resources, possibly including targeting livestock as prey items. Human-carnivore conflict is already a primary cause of predator declines worldwide, and our results suggest that the interface between predators and humans will increase in coming years and potentially exacerbate large carnivore population declines,” the researchers said.
In the statement, Neil Carter, associate professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability who jointly supervised the study said, “Increasing nocturnal activity to avoid human encounters can influence competition between species, predator-prey dynamics and ecosystem function.”
He added, “Avoiding human-dominated areas altogether effectively limits the amount of habitat that lions can use and can increase competition, contribute to heightened risks of regional extinction, restructure wildlife community dynamics and, ultimately, reduce biodiversity.”
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