Spotlight on Nature: Lion

Spotlight on Nature: Lion — page 1
MEET THE FAMILY NORTHERN LIONS of Pendjari National Park Benin beh-NEEN a small West African nation is about the size of the state of Ohio On Benin’s far northwestern edge cheetahs antelopes baboons and other animals roam the rocky cliffs sparse forests and grasslands of Pendjari National Park Slicing through the park the Pendjari River is home to hippopotamuses crocodiles and a variety of wading birds This area is one of the last remaining protected habitats for elephants and lions in West Africa It is late November the start of harmattan the dry season named for the cool dusty winds that blow southward from the Sahara Desert A Northern lioness has left her family and hidden under a rocky outcropping beneath a thicket of flowering kwandari For three and a half months she has been carrying the developing offspring inside inside her body Now in this private place the time has come for them to be born