Sarel van der Merwe is the chairperson of The African Lion Working Group (ALWG) which is dedicated to all aspects of conservation, research, and management of free-ranging lion populations in Africa and incorporates the findings of several research projects including the Kalahari Transfrontier Lion Project, (Principal researcher: Paul Funston) and the Serengeti Lion Project. (Principal researcher: Prof Craig Packer)

The African Lion Working Group can be found here: www.african-lion.org.

What is The African Lion Working Group (ALWG) and what are its aims and objectives?

The ALWG was founded Oct. 1999, and is affiliated with the Cat Specialist Group and also the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group of the IUCN, Species Survival Commission. Its mission is the conservation of free-ranging lions in Africa, and the policy reads as follows:

• Provide a forum for discussion and debate regarding lion conservation and relevant research matters, and act as a communication and networking portal
• Disseminate factual, scientifically based information to wildlife managers, politicians, government departments, NGO’s and the general public
• Support individuals who are conducting research on lions and who are working in Africa towards the conservation and management of free roaming lion populations in accordance with IUCN principles
• Promote the development and maintenance of comprehensive management strategies and plans for all lion populations in Africa
• Work with stakeholder groups within the framework of ALWG policy
• Seek assistance from its affiliate organizations and any other credible organization, if required, to support its recommendations

How is it funded and how are these funds distributed?

ALWG as an organisation has no funds

How are research projects initiated and how is it decided for how long a duration they will last?

ALWG does not initiate research projects. Each member is an individual who arranges his own funding and put together his/her own projects, sign contracts, etc.

What are the major threats to the lion’s existence and what is being done to address these issues?

Human encroachment, which squeezes prey animals out and with them the lions. Otherwise, the lions stay, and kill livestock, which results in indiscriminate persecution and killing on large scale.

How can this problem ever hoped to be solved and a greater understanding be developed towards the lions habits?

Never-ending education, addressing of farming and wildlife conservation practices, killing of problem animals, translocation of problem animals, trophy hunting, etc.


In terms of animal human conflict management, please discuss the different tactics for controlling the lions, with both negative and positive points, and which in your opinion is the most successful.

Translocation of stock-raiding lions and killing only those that are proven to be habitual stock killers, has improved the tolerance of livestock-owners to lions. The less natural prey species are available, the more the predators focus on livestock. Over-hunting is thus a contributing factor to lion/livestock clashes. Compensation for livestock losses has become controversial. One reason is the proportion of compensation paid out compared to actual value. Fencing is another approach, but there are numerous objections to this. Prevention of gene-flow, obstruction of other species from reaching areas of better quality and quantity of food. Poor fence maintenance.

Other success-limiting factors are:

• lack of suitable translocation sites
• translocation teams not responding to call-outs
• human impact on habitat
• budget constraints and slack in management
• irregular surveillance

Naturally, man-eaters are being killed immediately.

A lion's relationship with the Maasai is based on fear - centuries of hunting and killing: it recognises the red Shuka blanket and therefore avoids contact if possible. Does this then demonstrate a capacity for learning from experience and can anything be taken from this example with regard to lessening the lions affects on human settlements outside of National Parks?

Lions certainly learn quickly to avoid contact with humans, but the very negative situation in the Amboseli/Tsavo ecosystem contradicts the sucess of evasive methods by lions when it comes to traditional (tribal) killing.

With dwindling numbers in some areas, how can the lion survive with such a reduced gene pool – will interbreeding eventually lead to a species susceptible to all manner of diseases such as canine distemper?

Inbreeding is the least that we are worried about. Too much emphasis is being placed on this subject. where populations are very small, and fenced in, invasive management methods are being used: replace the coalition males every two to four years with new ones. Have old ones hunted for trophy purposes, which ploughs back the money into conservation.

Please expand upon the concept of invasive management methods and how it affects a pride when in a smaller area.

Invasive management entails, amongs other things, regular replacement of the coalition (more than one adult which "rules" the pride) males to prevent inbreeding. That happens every two to four years: sub-adult males are brought in from a source of choice, usually one which is disease-free, and has the same climatic features. The younger males must then keep out of the way of the big males, until they are big enough to impregnate the females, and to be accepted by the pride. The big males are then removed, mostly, hunted for trophy purposes. Further actions would be to remove male cubs before they can become an inbreeding problem, and older females with unrelated females. The whole process is complicated, because even new females are not allowed into prides. So, naturally, there comes a time when one has to replace just about the whole pride.

The lion is one of the great draws of an African safari and yet how does tourism impact upon their existence, from a positive and negative perspective?

Tourism, in general, does not have much of an impact, apart from adding value to the lions' existence. Naturally, wildlife authorities must attempt to not overpopulate tourist areas. That's why we have such high tariffs in the Okavang delta, e.g.: you want low impact, high paying tourism.

Why is it that the lion is found in greater numbers than the leopard or cheetah? Therefore meaning that the safarigoer has a greater chance of encountering one than the others.

Lions are in all probability way less than leopards. The latter is just a very shy and secretive animal, that's why most people think that they are scarce. We believe that we may have twice or even more as many leopards in Africa than lions. Cheetahs are much more vulnerable to human activities, and are much easier and much less dangerous to hunt down than lions. Many, if not most farmers do not hesitate to kill cheetahs on sight.

Please define what “free roaming lion populations” means.

Free roaming lions are animals which have never been touched by man, and do not know the effect of being held in small enclosures.

Once a lion is thought to be extinct in a certain area, have there been any attempts to reintroduce them and if so how successful has the operation been?

I do not recall any such situation, except Pilaneberg, Madikwe and others, where you have your wildlife area camped off, and you must make use of invasive management practices.

In an ecosystem where the majority of prey is migratory, (e.g Serengeti / Masai Mara) do the prides tend to be migratory too, and in the event of some kind of natural event impacting on the migration, such as drought or heavy rains how do the lion prides adapt?

A question for Prof. Craig Packer. Lions do migrate with prey animals, but some stay, and if prey is too scarce they turn to livestock.


Why in certain regions do lions have distinctive features/traits and others less so? I’m thinking in particular of the black maned lions in Ngorongoro Crater and the tree climbing lions of Lake Manyara in Tanzania.

Some questions remain unanswered, but I'm not aware of exceptionally black-maned lions in Ngorogoro or elsewhere. Dr Peyton West published an article about the black-maned lions having higher levels of testosterone. The are spread all over lion distribution range. Some areas, such as Tsavo, have maneless lions, and parts of Senegal as well. Genetically, they are the same species, and many theories have been developed: maneless because of heat, clinging grasses, etc. The tree-climbing lions of Manyara do so for two reasons: the biting flies do not fly above a certain height above ground and its also cooler high up. They have adapted to their surroundings. That's the key to your whole question, but that does not make them a different species. Genetics is very complicated, and we should rather have a separate communication re that subject. (DNA from West Africa, e.g. differs from DNA of, e.g. South Africa. That is what we call eco-species. The specific individual has adapted to its surroundings: it cab tolerate higher temperatures, or, as is the case with the Kalahari lions,. huge differences in day and night temperatures during winter, very dry air, very high summer temperatures. But they are still the same species.

What is your view on trophy hunting (and with regard to ALWG I’m thinking less of “Canned Hunting”) and is it something that is sustainable in this climate of the lion being considered at risk in some areas?

We have nothing to do with canned hunting. Trophy hunting can be a conservation tool, since it generates money for the specific community, and also the livestock owner knows that something is done to protect his livestock - though we are against the hunting of problem animals, because of the real dangers of abuse.

Membership to ALWG is open to “Only individuals with a scientific background, strong sense of nature conservation with specific reference to the conservation issues of free-ranging African lions.” However is there any way in which the general public can assist you in your activities? For instance if having observed/recorded by way of photo or video something out of the ordinary in a pride’s activities whilst on a safari – can they forward this to you? And does the ALWG accept public donations?

We will always accept any valuable information, be it in writing or photographs. We will accept donations, but will have to open a bank account. There are some members who are really suffering to keep head above water, and I have a very important project for Angola, and we need money to fund it. At this stage, we do not want the world to know that we are targeting Angola, because of the politics.

Apart from the internet – how else do you publicise ALWG?

We have a newsletter, African Lion News, which can be distributed to anybody asking for it - if we have money. Otherwise the newsletter can be downloaded from the internet.

For members of the public who are interested in your activities but are not able to actually be a part of the ALWG what is the best way of keeping abreast of your research and findings?

Our website. We used to have a Friends of the African Lion, but the administration became too much. We do not have a formal administrative structure. I do everything, and at the moment is busy with my Masters degree also. Keeps me quite busy.

In terms of the long duration research projects, what are the most surprising findings - and were there ever times when preconceived ideas were in fact proved to be unfounded?

The most important, I would say, is that FIV (Feline Imuno-deficiency Virus) has no consequences for lions. And also that CDV (Canine Distemper Virus) occurs rarely amongst populations. What is interesting, is that lions tend to (sometimes) break up, and members would join other prides, to return to their a year or so later. In dense prey populated areas, there are no territories, but rather home ranges, where lions cross through other lions' home ranges, and sometimes even share the same kill (Kruger National Park).

What hope do you have for the future of the lion outside of reserves and national parks?

In most areas: not much. That is part of the challenge: to work out plans to address this problem, since many lions still occur outside protected areas, where they are exposed to indiscriminate killing.