Botswana: Trophy Quality Monitoring for Lion
By Gerhard R Damm

One of the major concerns facing sustainable hunting of lion is the age of the hunted lion. Scientists, conservationists and hunters agree that there is an urgent need for reliable methods to determine trophy animal age. A reliable age-assessment technique is to x-ray the lion’s second premolar P2 to determine the extent of pulp-cavity growth. This method can be used for also for leopard and any other large predator to obtain a close age approximation.

In the process. P2 will be removed from each skull and radiographed with a dental X-Ray machine. The radiograph will be scanned and inserted into an architectural computer program to determine various dimensions of pulp and non-pulp according to a process developed by Ann Cheater at Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa and validated by Prof. Craig Packer’s research unit.

Through a network of hunters and the assistance of African Indaba, a portable dental X-Ray machine was located and purchased in South Africa and subsequently shipped to Maun. Debbie Peake will provide facilities at Mochaba to house the x-ray machine and undertake photography work. Thanks to generous funding from Conservation Force, the scientific groundwork of Craig Packer and Ann Cheater and the enthusiasm of Debbie Peake, the Botswana Wildlife Management Association (BWMA) will be now able to reliably age all trophy hunted large carnivores and share/discuss the data obtained with staff from the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks and wildlife researchers. This is extremely important for the future of safari hunting of lion and leopard in Botswana.

The safari operators and hunting clients are aware that the P2 will be removed from each skull. Outfitter and professional hunter members of the BWMA are also committed to providing series of photographs of all hunted lion trophies, as well as completing a number of in-depth questionnaires for submission to DWNP Research and the African Large Predator Research Unit (ALPRU). In addition, all operators will provide written additional information on lion sightings, natural mortalities, predator/prey relationship, problem animals, etc. in their respective wildlife management areas.

Peake will coordinate the inspection of each trophy by DWNP staff prior to export and submit an annual report to the DWNP Licensing and Research Unit on lion hunts and individual trophies. This report will include copies of all reports, ALPRU forms, age analysis, photographs of the trophy and especially the facial area with nose coloration. Results of this analysis will be shared with all stakeholders at the end of the hunting season (September) for discussion with the DWNP Research Division to evaluate ages, growth, nose colorations, etc. The data will provide invaluable base material for future allocations of quota. The facility will also be made available to private researchers in Botswana, i e: Wild Dog Research (Tico McNutt), Lion Research Center (Winterbach et al) and DWNP Problem Animal Control Division Results of age validation for lion and leopard would significantly contribute to an ongoing Trophy Quality Monitoring Project, carried out by Debbie Peake since 1997, in which measurements of key species are maintained in a database and are reviewed by DWNP annually.