Scavengers – a sign of health

It’s a very dry year across the region and the wild creatures are struggling, but this is Africa and animals are adapted to these extremes. This morning as we were doing our routine checks and preparing to collar Leila we encountered numerous baboon carcasses on the floodplain and dry river-bed. These baboons may have been hunted by Leila or one of the other juvenile lions. That’s a great sign and an even better one is this Bateleur, a type of raptor, feeding on the baboon carcass. This demonstrates a complete food chain where each of the animals have a role to play. We still have work to do to increase numbers of certain species, but we have come a long way.