She had two litters of cubs with him before he was ousted by a coalition of new males. In 2011, she mated with a male who dispersed to the community lands from Tsavo NP. We know Selenkay came from a pride of Amboseli NP lions. It has also encouraged us to think outside of the box and develop new mitigation tools that are in turn aiding to lessen human-lion conflict in other areas where we collaborate and share our knowledge across Africa.įurthermore, the success of Selenkay has led to stronger lion populations across all of Kenya and northern Tanzania by connecting previously isolated lion populations and providing essential genetic diversity. It is a challenge that the Guardians have fully accepted, as they actively warn herders when lions are present and help them to relocate their livestock to safety. Their penchant for livestock killing is passed down from one generation to the next and makes the Guardians work hard to protect Selenkay’s family every day and also proactively keep them from killing more livestock. The Selenkay pride is renowned as one of the most prominent livestock raiders of the area, surviving on Maasai cattle and goats during lean spells or whenever an opportunity arises. These are just a few of the many incidents that Selenkay has had to survive in her life of 9.5 years.Īsk most community members who live on Eselenkei Group Ranch to name a lion, and they are very likely to mention her or one of her family members. She has also endured three male lion takeovers, including the loss of five of young cubs to incoming males so they could gain instant mating rights with Selenkay and her adult daughters. Selenkay herself has escaped frequent warrior hunting parties with the assistance of the Guardians on one occasion she even attacked a warrior to defend her small cubs. Since then, the challenges this pride has faced are far from insignificant several individuals within the family, including Selenkay’s two sisters and a previous mate, have been speared and poisoned on different occasions. It is rare for females to disperse away from their family group, so we were surprised, yet also very excited to have new females taking up residence on the community lands of the ecosystem. Selenkay and her sisters appeared to have left their family group in the park. Then in early 2009, we encountered three sub-adult females and upon identification, we realized these three were the cubs we had seen years earlier from the Amboseli park pride. At that time, we only saw her once or twice as she belonged to a pride of lions that moved out of Amboseli National Park (NP) during the wet seasons for a month or two before returning to the lush swamps of the protected area. It was and is nothing like we have ever seen in another lion. She was a small cub, smaller than her younger cousins and most noticeably, she had a large brown coloration in her right eye. Even then, she was stood out from the rest.

We first saw Selenkay as a young cub in 2007. Furthermore, her family has grown to be the single largest pride of lions outside of protected areas in the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem, averaging 20+ members over the past four years, and representing over five generations. She now leads one of the first prides to form once human persecution lessened on the group ranches in 2007-2009. The rapid growth of her family even during most difficult times is a testament to her ability to make wise decisions and adapt to changing circumstances. And their story of survival can be credited to one amazing lioness – Selenkay. Today the Selenkay pride are a shining example of how lions living on community lands can overcome the immense challenges they face in the battle for coexistence. Uncategorized The Lioness Selenkay: A Warrior Who Built a Pride Lion Guardians on November 8, 2016

Lion protecting lioness