The Lioness Regenerating Senegal’s Prides

Nine cubs. That’s the number of offspring it takes to restore approximately one-third of the population of Critically Endangered West African lions in Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park — some of the last remaining lions in West Africa. Nine cubs can go a long way — and one mother can go even further. 

The story begins with a lioness named Flo. She was the first lion Panthera and Senegal’s Department of National Parks (DPN) collared together in 2021 and the first-ever in the country. Along with five other West African lions, her GPS collar was intended to provide our scientists with crucial information about lion behavior and dispersal patterns. Flo’s collar led our scientists on a journey throughout the bush of Niokolo-Koba. But near the end of last year, she vanished. 

Our team was concerned. Could she have been killed by the poachers who have preyed on the park’s wildlife in recent years? The GPS collar’s signal told us nothing –– until one day when one of our camera traps caught an amazing sight. 

Their tiny bodies danced across the frame of our camera trap — cubs! There was Flo with a new litter. Once this news reached our team, our reaction quickly turned from worry to celebration. Not only was Flo alive, but she was furthering our work to research and protect these lions. This imperiled lion population was finally starting to regenerate.

Before this, Flo gave birth to another collared male, Aziz. Then came two subadult females prior to this litter. We also suspect she is the mother of three males who form a strong coalition, as she is the only lioness these males tolerate. In sum, she has given birth to nine cubs, a big leap toward the future of her population. 

Flo’s offspring are better off because of Panthera and Senegal’s DPN. In 2022, DPN patrols supported by Panthera extended their scope from the southeastern portions of Niokolo-Koba to the entire park. Statistics prove this new patrolling range is making a difference — poaching is down 80 percent from 2017.

As Panthera continues to address the challenges associated with conserving this especially endangered subpopulation of lions in Africa, those little cubs running in front of the camera restore our hope that we can achieve our goals. The GPS collars from our initial study are now beginning to lose power, but renewed efforts are high on our priority list. 

We aim to restore the lion population in the park to 50 by the end of 2025 and to 100 lions by 2030. With more intensive lion monitoring and patrols, this is possible. Of the lions in the park, Flo is an exceptional individual— she mothered nine lions who will eventually sire more lions. Flo is helping bring us one step closer to our ambitious goal of increasing the lion population to 100 in only seven years’ time. 

Read our Press Release and visit the Wild At Heart page for more on Flo’s story. 

See more images and footage of Flo and her cubs.