Scientist paints eyes on cows’ rumps to protect them from lion attacks

 It sounds like a strategy to protect the poor cattle, but the idea is actually to protect endangered African lions from human retaliation Photo: Courtesy

Following rampant cases of human-wildlife conflicts in Botswana in which lions have been trespassing into grazing fields and attacking livestock, particularly cows, an Australian conservationist has developed a strange way of curbing the menace that Kenyans might perhaps want to try.

To help humans and their cattle co-exist with lions, Dr Neil Jordan has come up with the low-cost strategy that reportedly prevents attacks and retaliatory violence. The idea behind painting a pair of intimidating eyes on the rump of cows is that they will trick the lions, which are ambush hunters in nature into thinking they've been spotted, causing them to abandon the hunt. Scientists know that being seen can deter some species from attacking their prey.

For example, Indian woodcutters have long been wearing masks on the back of their heads to trick man-eating tigers that they've been spotted, and butterflies with eye-patterns on their wings ward off predatory birds. It sounds like a strategy to protect the poor cattle, but the idea is actually to protect endangered African lions from human retaliation.