Lions in Zimbabwe: Mitigating the effects of overhunting.

This thesis is concerned with the socio-spatial behaviour of lions following perturbation by tourist trophy hunting. The research has been undertaken in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, and has included aspects of the population surrounding the park in bordering hunting concessions and private land. Principally the work has revealed a reversal in perturbation effects on the lion population during a period of suspended hunting activity (2004 – 2008). The study has also yielded insights into the habitat selection, feeding and spatial ecology of lion in an artificially watered semi arid ecosystem and an evaluation of the value of lion to the non –consumptive tourist industry. Furthermore the use of track counts (Spoor Transects) as an index for assessing the abundance of large carnivores and their mammalian prey has been calibrated and applied to the Hwange ecosystem, the Mana Pools ecosystem in the Zambezi Valley and the Save Valley Conservancy in the Zimbabwean lowveld.