Social structure of lions (Panthera leo) is affected by management in Pendjari Biosphere Reserve, Benin

Etotépé A Sogbohossou; Hans Bauer; Andrew Loveridge; Paul J Funston; Geert R De Snoo; Brice Sinsin; Hans H De Iongh

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0084674

Social structure of lions (Panthera leo) is affected by management in Pendjari Biosphere Reserve, Benin

PLoS One. 2014 Jan 8;9(1):e84674. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084674. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Etotépé A Sogbohossou¹, Hans Bauer², Andrew Loveridge², Paul J Funston³, Geert R De Snoo⁴, Brice Sinsin¹, Hans H De Iongh⁴

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Applied Ecology, University of Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin.
² Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Zoology, University of Oxford, Tubney, United Kingdom.
³ Panthera, Kongola, Caprivi Region, Namibia.
⁴ Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Abstract

Lion populations have undergone a severe decline in West Africa. As baseline for conservation management, we assessed the group structure of lions in the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve in Benin. This reserve, composed of one National Park and two Hunting Zones, is part of the WAP transboundary complex of protected areas. Overall mean group size was 2.6±1.7 individuals (n = 296), it was significantly higher in the National Park (2.7±1.7, n = 168) than in the Hunting Zones (2.2±1.5, n = 128). Overall adult sex ratio was even, but significantly biased towards females (0.67) in the National Park and towards males (1.67) in the Hunting Zones. Our results suggest that the Pendjari lion population is affected by perturbations, such as trophy hunting.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Benin
Conservation of Natural Resources*
Ecosystem*
Female
Lions*
Male
Sex Ratio

Grants and funding

This study was part of the PhD project of the first author, ES. Her scholarship costs were covered by the Dutch Organisation for Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC). All operational costs for the collection of data for the present paper were covered by the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.