Archive for February, 2010

photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar

We usually think that a country rich of an impressive wild life like Kenya is nearly out of danger of seeing the full extinction of an emblem of Africa like the lion. This is not all so certain.

According to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), wild lions from Kenya are disappearing quite quickly: 100 lions less each year for the last 10 years. But there are no more than 2000 of them left. The last lion would so die in 20 years.

But Laurence Frank, biologist in the protection group for big cats, Panthera, believes that the KWS estimate is much too low and that the last lion in Kenya has no more than 10 years left!

The pressure applied by the human population onto the wild eco-system of Kenya already seems huge and this is compounded by a smuggling traffic small but measurable.

So, your next safari in Kenya this year may well be the last hope you have to see the king of animals.

Source: New Scientist.

A car thief probably got the surprise of his life when he grabbed the light truck from a circus. No doubt he thought he had a good one, but he got more than he bargained for: a 5-year old lion, circus star armed with a set of teeth able to recover the last remnant of honesty from the worse stealing bandit.

The German police found the wrecked truck and Caesar safe and sound. It is not known whether the thief was unable to drive or if the noises from the back of the car were more distracting than the usual mobile phone used while driving.

Source: AFP.

This is what these visitors of the Lion Safari Park in Johannesburg (South Africa) learned while they were driving slowly in this wildlife park to admire some wild animals. But, this lion found how to open their Toyota’s door with its teeth. The driver had only a few seconds to understand that the best reaction was to press the pedal deep and run away.

Lion opens car door

It would never have happened with a large American SUV, of course.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk.