This is one of five stories that explore the greater Serengeti region and its ecosystem. Read the rest of those stories here.
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The urgent need to protect the Serengeti’s intricate web of life
The vast and varied ecosystem of thousands of plant and animal species is a place of astonishing resilience but needs the support of Kenyans and Tanzanians to survive.
Tire tracks left by tourist-filled safari vehicles etch a dusty expanse where lions rest in Tanzania’s Hidden Valley. It’s March, and these apex predators have fed well on wildebeest herds calving nearby—the newborns are especially vulnerable. Later in the year, when the herds have followed the rains north in search of better grazing, lions here struggle to find enough prey, and some inevitably starve to death. It’s the boom-and-bust cycle of the Serengeti region that predators of the plains live and die by.
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