{"id":3475,"date":"2025-03-04T21:44:18","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T21:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/?p=3475"},"modified":"2025-03-10T18:52:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T18:52:34","slug":"the-lion-livestock-conflict-tarleton-doctoral-student-kaileigh-smith-studies-lion-movement-and-the-human-wildlife-conflicts-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/2025\/03\/04\/the-lion-livestock-conflict-tarleton-doctoral-student-kaileigh-smith-studies-lion-movement-and-the-human-wildlife-conflicts-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lion-Livestock Conflict: Tarleton doctoral student, Kaileigh Smith, studies lion movement and the human-wildlife conflicts in Botswana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Deep in the scrub lands of Botswana, conflicts have been arising between local farmers and the wildlife. The conflicts lead to devastating losses of livestock for Botswanan farmers. The resulting human retaliation response to livestock lost from lion attacks is leading to a decline in lion populations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaileigh Smith, a PhD student at Tarleton State, has a deep-rooted passion for wildlife and conservation. Smith’s research, under the direction of Dr. T. Wayne Schwertner, is investigating the spatial dynamics of lion and livestock movement behavior across their shared landscape. Through better understanding their movement patterns, the Botswanan government and farmers can strategically herd their cattle to reduce loss.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFewer lions eating cows means fewer angry farmers and fewer dead lions,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIf the farmers are happy, the lions are happy. The way that we do that is by figuring out how to reduce the number of cows that lions are eating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re very impoverished communities. They get more benefit by selling the livestock than they do by just eating them. They need them. They rely on them to support their families.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Smith sits with an older male lion after it was fitted with a GPS collar. His nickname is “Morati,” or “one who loves.”*<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The goal of the study is to determine how the lions use the shared landscape to reduce the interactions between livestock and lions. In theory, improved landscape planning will result in decreased losses of lion and livestock individuals, benefiting both populations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI provide quarterly reports to the Botswana Department of Wildlife,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have the funding or the resources to do this kind of fine scale project, so it will be valuable for them as well. They rely on independent researchers to help supplement the research they do [on lion movement outside of national parks.]\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To track lion movement, Smith and her colleagues have travelled to Botswana two times in the past several years to place GPS collars on lions they tracked with the aid of native guides and veterinarians. Cattle were fitted with collars containing a solar-powered tag. The collars on the lions will track their movement indefinitely, while the cattle collars will be rotated to different herds annually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are scheduled to take one GPS point every hour,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe reality is that technology isn\u2019t perfect, but we are consistently getting 16-18 points per day [from the cattle]. You get a little bit more information from the lion\u2019s collars, so 20-22 points depending on the day.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Footprint of a lioness, “Obogale” (Setswana for “one who is fierce”), that was tracked on foot for several days prior to her capture.* <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Smith’s team processes Obogale which included teeth inspection, collaring, and foreleg length measurement.*<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

While Smith has not yet analyzed movement data, she has noticed some differences between lion movements inside the national park compared to the wildlife management area she is studying.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClose to the farms, [the lions] appear to move quickly,\u201d she said. \u201cThey don\u2019t stay in one area for very long. Inside the park, further away from the cows and farms, they seem to have more predictable, almost leisurely movement. It\u2019s what you would expect of a wild animal responding to its landscape.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith completed her undergraduate degree at Texas State, never having heard of Tarleton and planning for a career with mesocarnivores. Her desire to do wildlife field research while immersed in another culture led her to a master\u2019s position posting at Tarleton funded by a USDA NIFA grant. Following the completion of her master\u2019s thesis looking at the efficacy of solar powered ear tags for lions, Smith stayed at Tarleton to further pursue lion research in her PhD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t really sure at first if I wanted to apply,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut as I began developing my application, I realized that this [position] was a good fit. I am really excited about adding to the growing, but still pretty small, body of research that looks at how lions might potentially survive outside of protected areas.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Smith’s team evaluates the teeth of a lioness, “Binang” (“to dance”), as an indicator of age and general health.*<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Smith measures Obogale’s foreleg length to estimate her size in comparison to other lions.*<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Smith plays an important role in the Department of Wildlife and Natural Resources at Tarleton State as the instructor of record for the Principles of Wildlife Management and Conservation course. In teaching, she has found an interest in watching students learn and encouraging them in careers involving research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou just need to put yourself around people that are doing research and be open,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBe open to doing things that maybe aren\u2019t exactly what you want to do, have a good attitude about it, and be willing to learn.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This project was generously funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Tarleton State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*All animal capture and handling was conducted under supervision of a licensed veterinarian in accordance with relevant institutional and governmental permits.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deep in the scrub lands of Botswana, conflicts have been arising between local farmers and the wildlife. The conflicts lead to devastating losses of livestock for Botswanan farmers. The resulting …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":3489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":53,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,39,40,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-department-of-wildlife-natural-resources","category-grant","category-research","category-students"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"swdmcelyea","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/author\/swdmcelyea\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/228\/2025\/03\/IMG_2055_crop-214x300.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Department of Wildlife & Natural Resources<\/a>","Grant<\/a>","Research<\/a>","Students<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Department of Wildlife & Natural Resources<\/span>","Grant<\/span>","Research<\/span>","Students<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on March 4, 2025","modified":"Updated on March 10, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on March 4, 2025 9:44 pm","modified":"Updated on March 10, 2025 6:52 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/845"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3475"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3505,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3475\/revisions\/3505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/coanr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}