A British scientist has begun painting eye-patterns onto cows' behinds in a creative bid to stop lions from hunting them.
Dr Neil Jordan believes if he can stop African lions killing farmers' cattle, then farmers will stop killing the endangered lions.
According to Mailonline, the conservation biologist, who works with the University of New South Wales and Taronga Zoo in Sydney, is trialling his theory in the Okavango Delta in Botswana.
The idea is to trick the big cats into thinking they have been seen by drawing eyes on the back of the cows, so that they do not attack.
Lions are supreme ambush predators, they rely on stealth. When seen they lose this element of surprise and abandon their hunt,' he said.
The scientist has already carried out a small 3-month sample test of his theory, which gave promising results.
'While 3 out of 39 unpainted cows were killed by lions, none of the 23 painted cows from the same herd were killed,' he said
Dr Jordan is now fundraising to be able to buy more of the equipment needed to carry out further tests.
0 100000:
Post a Comment