Zambian lioness Lady Liuwa update

This video from Zambia says about itself:

The Last Lioness (Full Documentary) HD

Dec 11, 2011

A haunting call echoes across the Liuwa Plain. There is no answer, there hasn’t been for years. She has no pride, no support – she alone must safeguard her own survival. Her name is Lady Liuwa, and she is the Last Lioness. Isolated by a scourge of illegal trophy hunting that wiped out the rest of her species in the region, Lady Liuwa is the only known resident lion surviving on Zambia’s Liuwa Plain. For four years, cameraman Herbert Brauer watched her lonely life unfold, until, in her solitude, she reached out to him for companionship.

All rights belong to The National Geographic Society.

From Wildlife Extra:

Lady Liuwa update – Surviving lions have formed a small pride

Male and young lioness mating regularly

January 2013. After the younger of the 2 new lionesses was killed in a snare in June 2012, the second new lioness left the park and headed towards Angola. She was captured just before she crossed the border, and a decision was taken to put Lady Liuwa and the young lioness in a holding boma for several weeks. The decision proved to have been a wise one, and the two lionesses were released in October having bonded together well.

The lioness bonded well, and Lady was quick to establish her dominance over the young lioness (who in turn has shown appropriate submission) but has been tolerant, allowing the youngster to share wildebeest carcasses with her. Apart from a few growls at meal times, there has thankfully been no real aggression.

Wandering males leads to a lion death

On an unfortunate note, the two males (introduced into Liuwa in 2009) wandered north-west out of the park, with satellite tracking of the one collared male showing that he strayed 40 kilometres into Angola before doing a U-turn and hurrying back to the park. The second male did not return to the park and subsequent reports from local communities indicated that he had been killed in Angola after straying close to a village. The coalition of these two magnificent males was a stirring sight on the Liuwa plain and the loss is tragic.

Mating

Happier news ensued as the remaining male teamed up with Lady Liuwa and the young lioness, and the three have been co-existing as a unit ever since. The male and young lioness have been seen mating in November and there are hopes for cubs in 2013.

Liuwa National Park is managed by African Parks. African Parks is a non-profit organisation that takes total responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in partnership with governments and local communities. African Parks currently manages seven parks in six African countries – Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Zambia. The total area under management covers 4.1 million hectares, an area as large as The Netherlands.

Related articles

• Lady Liuwa – Daily Mail Newspaper Poster Girl RE – Banning of Lion Hunting in Zambia (greatcatsoftheworld.wordpress.com)
• The lonely lioness (retrieverman.net)
• No Trophy Hunting in Botswana and Zambia? (newswatch.nationalgeographic.com)
• Two new lion cubs at Bristol Zoo (bristolculture.wordpress.com)
• You looking at me? Curious lioness ignores dinner and gets up close and personal to photographer’s camera (dailymail.co.uk)

Angolan giant sable antelope rediscovery

This video is called Sable antelope show off formidable horns.

From AngolaPress:

Angola: Giant Sable Antelope Resurfaces in Bié

14 January 2013

Kuemba — A specimen of the extinction-threatened giant sable antelope was spotted over the weekend in the municipality of Kuemba, some 160 kilometres east of central Bié province‘s capital city, Kuito.

The information was released by Kuemba administrator, Laurinda Kapocolola.

Speaking to Angop, the official said in Bié province, the animal lives in the Luando forest reserve.

Laurinda Kapokolola who quoted chieftains in the region, said this is the second time the animal is seen in the area, after a male and a female were spotted there in mid-last year.

She said the reports about appearances of the animal in Kuemba region are the result of a hard work by the authorities in raising awareness within local communities for the protection of the “Palanca Negra Gigante” from poachers.

The rare and once believed extinct animal that survived decades of civil war in Angola is the target of a Giant Sable Antelope Conservation and Protection Project launched in 2006 by the Ministry of Environment, in partnership with the Catholic Church Scientific Research Centre and the Government of Malanje province.

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New Angolan forest discovery

This video is about African wildlife.

From BirdLife:

Forest discovery improves prospects for Angola’s endemics

Fri, July 6, 2012

A large tract of near-pristine Afromontane forest has been found in Angola’s Namba Mountains, tripling the amount of this habitat that was thought to survive in Angola. The site meets the criteria for a new Important Bird Area (IBA), holding one globally threatened species, and assemblages of restricted range and biome-restricted bird species.

Afromontane forest is the most localised and threatened habitat type in Angola. By the early 1970s, only 200 ha was estimated to remain, mainly at the Mount Moco IBA (85 ha), and perhaps in the Namba Mountains, where most forest was thought to be degraded by logging.

Mount Moco and the Namba Mountains lie within the Western Angola Endemic Bird Area, which includes four restricted-range species associated with Afromontane vegetation. Two Afromontane endemics of global conservation concern, Endangered Swierstra’s Francolin Pternistis swierstrai and Near Threatened Angola Cave-chat Xenocopsychus ansorgei, are found at Mount Moco, but the francolin is now uncommon there. The Data Deficient endemic Grimwood’s Longclaw Macronyx grimwoodi is also found at Moco. Several other Afromontane specialists have been found only there or at one or two other sites in Angola, and face a serious threat of extirpation from the country.

Angola’s Afromontane forest and thicket holds 20 species, subspecies or populations of conservation significance, isolated and distinct from other Afromontane “centres of endemism”, the nearest of which is over 2000 km away.

New bird species discovered in Angola?

From Wildlife Extra:

Possible new species of bird discovered in Angola

Olivebacks in Angola?

October 2011. Rockjumper Birding Tours take serious birders to most corners of the world, and often to places that few other birders go – So occasionally they make some very interesting observations. Rockjumper clients recently made what may be a very important discovery of a new population of Heteromirafra larks in Ethiopia. And now in Angola they have found what may be a new species altogether.

During Rockjumper’s recent tour to Angola, their group was birding the Northern Scarp Forests near Uige when tour leader Markus Lilje observed a group of three Olivebacks (Small, colourful finches in the waxbill family, genus Nesocharis) on the forest edge. No records of olivebacks exits for Angola, so this of course led to much …excitement!

They initially perched on dry leafless twigs affording excellent views and then flew to a more concealed site, but here allowed prolonged views. Markus was able to take a few photos (admittedly not great, but certainly better than none!).

These birds most closely resemble White-collared Oliveback N. ansorgei but differ in having a more slender body shape, longer tail and a white collar running on the back of the neck unlike the white collar on the throat of White-collared Oliveback. Furthermore, White-collared Oliveback is a highly localized bird endemic to the Albertine Rift, a great distance from Angola.

This exciting discovery may well prove to be a new species to science but this can only be verified by further research and observation.

Angola: Sable Antelope Conservation Needs U.S.$. Six Million: here.