The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the world’s best known mammal species.  Illustrated by Pleistocene cave painters and ivory carvers and chronicled by Homer and Herodotus, lions remain the focus of intense scientific and public interest.  With dozens of other species of  Africa’s “charismatic megafauna,” Kenyan park visitors spend 60% of their time either looking at lions or looking for them.

Most scientific knowledge about lions comes from a long-term research program initiated in the Serengeti high-plains ecosystem of Tanzania and Kenya by George Schaller and continuously investigated ever since, most notably by Craig Packer and his associates.  These studies have yielded myriad insights into behavior, ecology, and evolution and spawned scores of films and documentaries.  Yet studies from a single ecosystem necessarily generate an incomplete view of a species.  They cannot assess the number of evolutionary units, explain contrasting reports of behavior, ecology and even appearance, or determine the species’ numbers, status, and threats across its range.  Lions are impressively variable in morphology, genetics, behavior, and ecology, points recently underscored by studies outside the Serengeti. 

The purpose of this research program is to document and interpret this variation.  It involves many collaborations with fellow scientists, among them Dr. Samuel Kasiki of the Kenya Wildlife Service, Dr Roland Kays of the New York State Museum, Dr Jean Dubach of the Chicago Zoological Society, and Mr Andy Dossman of the University of Chicago. Besides clarifying evolutionary and ecological patterns of lion, understanding lion variability should enable more accurate predictions of the lion’s responses to altered environments and changing climates, both meteorological and political.

The links below include a description of our partnership with Earthwatch Institute, a page of publications and associated news reports, and some miscellaneous pages.