![\"Lion](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/LionWithCubs_MaraConservancy_RossPollackFlickrBYNCSA2.0.jpg\")
Lion with cubs, Mara Conservancy, Kenya. Image by Ross Pollack via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/rossap\/5188594987\/ https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/deed.en<\/p>\n
Between 2015 and 2023, he and his colleagues carried out surveys at seven community-owned wildlife conservancies in the Mara ecosystem. They covered nearly 69,000 kilometers (43,000 miles) in total, collecting data about the presence of lions, and wild and domestic herbivores.<\/p>\n
They weren\u2019t surprised to find that lions avoided livestock herders. But they also found that the lions avoided parts of the conservancies where cattle had been herded even after they had moved on.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps the most striking result [of the study] was that lions continued to avoid areas with a history of high cattle use even when cattle were not present at the time,\u201d Mogensen says.<\/p>\n
Mogesen\u2019s team did not explicitly model how lion sightings related to grazing management practices on the conservancies they studied, but he noted that moves to restrict access to grazing would be sensitive. Livestock are central to Maasai livelihoods and culture: restrictions could be perceived as threatening household security or prioritizing wildlife over people.<\/p>\n
\u201cAddressing this requires collaborative approaches rather than top-down enforcement,\u201d Mogensen says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis can include spatial zoning that protects key wildlife areas while retaining grazing access elsewhere, seasonal rather than permanent restrictions, and transparent benefit-sharing so that landowners clearly see how conservation outcomes link to economic returns from conservancies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peter Kilani is a herder on the Mosiro Conservancy, to the east of the seven covered by Mogensen\u2019s data. He says only a few Maasai conservancies have taken the approach of reserving parts of their land exclusively for wildlife.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis only happens in some conservancies like Maasai Mara and Imbikirani, where the community have offered their own pieces of land for wildlife and they are paid in return. It\u2019s big business for them,\u201d he tells Mongabay by phone.<\/p>\n
The more common practice is managing access to all available rangeland. \u201cWe are doing this comfortably in my community in Mosiro in Kajiado [county]. We have done it since time immemorial,\u201d Kilani says.<\/p>\n
![\"Cattle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Cattle_SelenkayConservancyKenya_ReginaHartFlickrBY2.0.jpg\")
Cattle on a Maasai conservancy in Kenya. Image by Regina Hart via Flickr (CC BY 2.0) https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/reginahart\/33207574762\/ https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/deed.en<\/p>\n
But today\u2019s conditions are no more frozen in time than are pastoralists\u2019 lives and livelihoods. Reading back through the results of aerial surveys by the Kenyan government, large-bodied wild herbivores (other than elephants) have declined by 70% since the late 1970s; cattle have also declined, though by just 13%. Sheep and goats have increased by 269%.<\/p>\n
To maintaining a healthy balance of their ecosystems, the conservancies of the Maasai Mara will need to account for new data and demands and fashion new approaches to managing their rangeland.<\/p>\n
Daniel Sopia, who heads the Mara Wildlife Conservancy Association, which includes the seven that Mogensen surveyed, says rotational grazing systems in place in most conservancies create a circuit where wild herbivores typically follow the cattle \u2014 and, says Sopia, seek the safety from predators afforded by the shorter grass left behind.<\/p>\n
Counter to the research findings, he says herders in the associations\u2019 conservancies do observe lions in the landscape following antelope or other ungulates, even on the same day that they\u2019ve driven cattle through an area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not heard conservancies complain about the lack of lions due to grazing or cattle presence,\u201d Sopia tells Mongabay. \u201cYes, where cattle numbers are too many and don\u2019t rotate too often, [this] might cause herbivores to move due food shortage. Hence lions move to follow prey or start preying on cattle. The fact that lions continue to avoid the area long after grazing is not something we have observed as community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nakedi Maputla, a senior conservation scientist at the Africa Wildlife Foundation, who was not involved in the study, says managing access to grazing in conservancies is a sensitive issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has human rights implications that warrant careful consideration and serious attention. It may also lead to landowners\u2019 resentment towards wildlife and the authorities responsible for wildlife conservation; that is, unless landowners are central to the decision-making process,\u201d he told Mongabay.<\/p>\n
Mogensen\u2019s analysis of data detailing the presence and absence of lions from portions of Mara conservancies is an important contribution to the decisions and management of these rangelands in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cConservancies therefore represent a complex matrix of overlapping land uses, conservation goals, and socio-economic needs,\u201d Mogensen writes, \u201cposing significant challenges for sustaining large carnivores and managing human-wildlife interactions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dann Okoth in Nairobi contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
Banner image: Lions. Image courtesy of Kasaine Sankan-Mara Predator Conservation Program.<\/p>\n
Can cattle and wildlife co-exist in the Maasai Mara? A controversial study says yes<\/a><\/p>\n Citation:<\/p>\n Mogensen, N., Packer, C., Svenning, J. C., Sankan, K., & Buitenwerf, R. (2026). Human-driven landscapes of fear for Africa\u2019s largest terrestrial predator in human-used conservation landscapes. Biological Conservation, 313, 111599. doi:10.1016\/j.biocon.2025.111599<\/a><\/p>\n
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