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Ngorongoro CraterThe Ngorongoro lions have been studied continuously since 1975, work that was begun by Drs. Jeanette Hanby and David Bygott who ran the Serengeti Lion Project at that time. Located at the eastern edge of the Serengeti plains, the crater is a caldera created by an extinct volcano and is situated within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Unlike the Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro is home to both wildlife and people; there, the Masai pursue their traditional way of life. 2000 feet below the Crater rim, the Crater floor consists of 100 square miles of fertile habitat fed by springs on the rim, and surrounding a permanent alkaline lake. The Crater's rich soils, abundant water and year-round prey base provide an ideal habitat for lions, and its location and depth make it largely inaccessible to lions born elsewhere. Jeanette and David were the first to recognize the value of comparing the ecology and behavior of Crater lions to those living in the Serengeti. In 1979, Craig and Anne took over the project, and one of their goals was to investigate the possibility that the Crater lions might be inbred, and to determine whether inbreeding posed a threat to their survival. Although the Crater is an excellent habitat for lions, the number of Crater lions has fluctuated widely over time. Additionally, over time the Crater floor has become increasingly isolated from other lion populations by the growing human population on and around the Crater rim. This isolation makes the Crater lion population extremely vulnerable to extinction. The primary goal of our current research in the Crater is to determine the causes of fluctuations in lion numbers, and to study the relationship between humans and lions above the Crater floor.
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Population Fluctuations
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