EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Lions (Panthera leo)
Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

Explanation:    It is dusk on the Masai Marai grasslands of southern Kenya.  A crimson sunset backlights a distant rainstorm.  In the foreground two lions wait for darkness before striking out on an evening hunt.  

This spectacular setting was made all the more striking by the fact that these two lions were just part of a pride of eleven ... and that our vehicle broke down just feet away from all of them, at dusk.  Our intrepid driver had to get out of the vehicle and under the hood to adjust some wiring, with these hungry cats just a leap away.  

But this was their territory, not ours.  Places like the Masai Mara -- which is the  northern extent of the vast Serengeti ecosystem that extends south into Tanzania -- are some of the last places reserved primarily for our non-human brethren on this planet.  If we venture there, it is, and should be, at our peril and not theirs.  Already, many large carnivores such as Bengal tigers are starting to wink out from their large parks and reserves once thought to be sufficient to hold viable populations in perpetuity.