Photo by @amivitale. It’s World Lion Day! Here, a lion looks up from his freshly caught prey at @loisaba_conservancy in Laikipia, northern Kenya. Large wide ranging carnivores like lions are normally one of the first mammal species to be lost in areas shared with people and livestock. Their presence in a human dominated landscape like this one is a symbol of a successful coexistence. Apex predators like lions play a vital role in maintaining a healthy balance in an ecosystem, impacting everything below them, from soil nutrients and disease, to plant, prey and scavenger populations. If lions are doing well then the entire ecosystem is likely doing well. In the long term, that means the ecosystem will be better able to support the people that also rely on it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ To learn more, follow @lionlandscapes, @loisaba_conservancy, @nature_africa, @peregrinefund and @tusk_org who are working together to promote coexistence between humans and lions for the benefit of people and nature in northern Kenya. Lion conservation is facing huge challenges and no one organisation can solve them alone. Vital partnerships like these make the huge undertaking of saving these magnificent creatures possible. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Shot on assignment for The Nature Conservancy (@nature_africa). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ @elewanacollection @nature_org @kenyawildlifeservice @houstonzoo @sandiegozoo #lionlandscapesrangers #peregrinefund #coexistencecoop #collaringforcoexistence #lion #monitoring #conservation #laikipia #livingwithlions #WillsAfricaTrust #WildCRU #kenya #northernkenya #africa #everydayafrica #amivitale (at Loisaba Conservancy) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDuCbGshebm/?igshid=1wwf4o999uivb