Apr 24 2008
Welcome to the Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation blog. Lions, research, conservation, maasai… and more lions
My name is Seamus. I am a field biologist, specialising in studying lions that live in conflict with people. There is a group of like-minded and talented researchers that I work with that I will introduce individually in due course. For the moment, you can read about them here. We call our collective “Living with Lions”. Our approach is to use the only the highest calibre science to understand why large carnivore populations are declining in africa, then to carefully document applied conservation conservation programs that we initiate or collaborate with. If the results of our work are unpalatable we present them anyway. If something doesn’t work, we try to understand why. Conversely if the results of our work are optimistic then we promote them.
So, if I am in the business of research, why blog? Well, its quite simple really. Firstly I would like to bring some world attention to the situation of large carnivores in africa, and while traditional media outlets carry more accountability for their content, I have always been surprised by how little impact stories there have made. Having been raised as more of a paper and print sort of person (thanks DBM and MB for my addiction to newspapers), I have to admit to being a little skeptical about blogs, dismissing them as the unstructured ramblings of people with nothing better to do than gaze at their collective navels. I looked more closely at blogs late last year however and came to realise that they are consumed by a surprisingly wide audience, and can do things which traditional (aka “square”?) print media can’t. I helped to get the Lion Guardians’ blog on its feet last year and am pleased to say that it is rasing funds and ticking along quite well without my assistance now.
Which brings me to my second justification for take time away from research to publish a blog. I plan to use this to raise money to support our work. Conservation and research work in africa is typically not well-funded by governments here. This is understandable for the most part, as state funding generally has to be directed towards ministries that solve basic human needs. So good conservation in africa is often funded from external (private) sources. My strategy on this blog is going to be to try to post often, to post interesting material, and from time to time, remind readers to take a minute to hit that red button…. it was once said “wildlife conservation in africa is cheap”. This is pretty much true (in relative terms) but I still need a fair amount to put fuel in the ‘plane and buy lion collars, and from where I am (a bush camp in southern kenya) these are quite significant expenses.
Thirdly and lastly, this blog is for my somewhat scattered, eccentric, but nevertheless loving family… all the scientists in CO (whose work I still don’t really understand), Auntie Suzie in Durban (”whose house smells like diesel”), all the other peeps down South and of course, Little Yellow Bird (waiting for spring in the northwestern corner).
Disclaimer: Blogs have been called “citizen journalism” and other slighly confusing, but grand monikers. I have no noble aspirations here. Although I am a member of Living with Lions, and collaborate with many other conservation groups, don’t take anything I write in this forum as representative of the views of anyone other than myself. And from time to time if I digress from the topic of lions, its because I’d like to be seen as being a little less one-dimensional than your off-the-shelf lion researcher. Be patient and I will return to lion-related topics… they are after all, my favourite animals (followed closely by aardvarks and tigers).
I will develop the infrastructure of this blog as I have time, and as the wildlifedirect team provide the tools to do more exciting and dangerous things. Some posts will be short and cryptic. Others will be long and rambling. I would appreciate your thoughts. To a certain extent I can take requests for content too.
I’ll end this here. Media-savvy people will no doubt impress upon me the fact that most people wandered off to watch MTV or reality TV after the first paragraph… such is life I suppose. In the words of one of my favourite robotic politicians, “I’ll be back….”
11 responses so far
Hi Seamus, I cant see the photo, ..or my navel.
Thank you for your intro; and good luck to your work. Hope there will be fund going your direction. I do donate the little money which i can afford to conservation groups like the african wildlife foundation .
you are so right about the plight of predators especially lions due to their low number, the feline hiv, the in breeding problem and others. even the kruger lions now are suffering from tb from the buffaloes they hunt. lions’ endangered and disappearing state is never mentioned at all among the media, biologists in zoos and wildlife so called experts. therefore the public think elephants are among the endangered list even though their number are over 500,000 while the lions are at max are around 23,000 . in short, the media has shined much light on one species while being igornant of others. have we ever heard there are only 40 amur leopards left in the wild? no! yet when we watch those wildlife programs or books, all we see is the elephants are in danger of extinction. what’s up with that? i am not neglecting the danger of mass killing/poaching of elephants from ivory trade; but there should be some kind of fairness instead of so much favoritism in the world of wildlife conservation.
Paula (sigh)… its probably a good thing you can’t see your navel, as it might be full of fluff (like mine). Yes, apologies for the lack of photo. I am UNABLE to use the offline editor for some time… and wordpress was being unco-operative today.
Sauwah,
Thank you for your support. Keep supporting causes that you believe in.
1)I never said anything in my blog about FIV being a significant threat to global lion population numbers
2)lions are not officially endangered. They are “vulnerable”, which is a slightly lower priority classification. http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/15951/summ
If you are interested to know exactly what this means, and how these classifications are made, then you can look here: http://intranet.iucn.org/webfiles/doc/SSC/RedList/RedListGuidelines.pdf
3)it may be true that conservation decisions and media exposure are made on non-rational grounds.
Hey Seamus, small world we live in. I read Amy Howard, will be helping Antony at the Lion Guardians, terrific news. Will you be able to participate in the up coming conference on wildlife poisoning? Either way, I know your blog will address this issue. BTW, you’re too young to remember MTV in the ’80’s, the New Wave music was awesome…but now, I’m all grown up and conservation is my passion!
Theresa - I will be following up on the outcomes of the poisoning meeting, and hopefully can relate some of it here in the blog.
Don’t get me wrong. There were plenty of good things that arose from the 80’s…. legwarmers. Big glasses. Dire straits. Save-the-whales. The A-team. Princess Di. Knightrider. My comment was more about the saturation of publicly available media, and how perhaps one ends up competing to some extent….
Welcome! Good first post. I appreciate your candor. I’m a little confused about the discussion of Paula’s navel, though …
s.
The navel threw me a bit too — BUT great post and I love your references into the “idiot blogs” that are out there - but you will find most of us a very serious bunch of conservationist types I think on this blog — anxious to hear more!
Congratulations! here’s to the new one! To celebrate I just directed a couple a dead prez’s for the metaphorical bottle of bubbly to break on the ships bow. Or some gas for the plane that you may soar high above that Happy Valley set who would clip the wings of those with flight …..In the spirit of White Mischief and all that, my darling young one…now go find the King! You are commanded!
Very nice! I have similar aspirations for my own blog, but look forward to more of yours.
As a large carnivore who has studied (and mapped) his own navel I must confess I had no idea the noses turn from pink to black. Curious.
Esion
PS. What do you call a jar full of belly buttons? Navel reserve.
Hey Esion, I had a look at your blog. Thanks for the comment. How is Seattle treating you? (sigh) I fear my mention of navels has given rise to an entire philosophical and semantic debate… It would be appropriate at this point to reveal to my readers who Paula is…. she happens to the conservation director of Wildlifedirect (this blog portal). A good scientist and passionate conservationist, and self-proffessed tree-hugger. Check it out here:
http://wildlifedirect.org/about.php#