Hunting depending on the color of the nose

2004/02/23 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Ekologia

Researchers propose that only lions with dark noses die to protect the population from lions. The color of the nose is related to age, since as the age advances, the lions acquire increasingly dark spots. Researchers believe that if only lions die with more than 50% of the nose filled with honey, the effects of hunting will decrease in groups of lions.

If a young male is killed, his team is captured by another lion. The latter, however, speaks of the already existing puppies so that the females only wait for the pups fertilized by it. If this happens often, maturity is very small and the population of lions can be reduced considerably. According to the researchers, the death of lions older than 5 years will not mean a decrease in the population, since their offspring are already mature. Hunters can calculate the age of the lion through nasal pigmentation.

According to the group of researchers, the promoters of lion hunting will also support this proposal, since to maintain the economic income of this costly pastime it is necessary for lions to survive. However, other researchers consider that regulation of lion hunting will require important control, since not all hunters play with responsibility.