Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Tracking Mufasa

30 minutes

Find Out: Analysing lion data

20 minutes

Take Action: Communicating the data

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

create a map of lion movements using grid reference systems.
use grid reference systems to understand the movements of lions over time.

Success criteria

Students can:

interpret grid references to understand lion movements
understand how conservationists apply this information to protecting lions.

Tune In: Tracking Mufasa

Step 1

Begin by sharing the trailer for the new Disney movie “Mufasa: The Lion King”:

Mufasa: The Lion King | Official Trailer - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJwcDX-8Ytc)

Then share the movie synopsis:

“Mufasa: The Lion King” enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala. The story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka - the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny, and their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe.

Step 2

Draw student’s attention to the term ‘expansive journey’ in this synopsis. Pose the questions:

Do you think lions really go on expansive journeys?
How could we find out how far lions travel?
Why would we want to know how far lions travel?

Explain to students that scientists who want to study lions and their behaviour can observe them by tracking them. They do this by attaching special tracking collars around their necks, which send two types of information.

VHF - this is a radio signal, and it means that researchers driving around with a radio antenna know when they are getting closer to the lion and can find them in real time.
GPS - this is a satellite signal. Every four hours, the collar sends a ‘ping’ up towards the satellites, which sends another ‘ping’ back. The collar uses these pings to figure out the GPS coordinates, or where it is on the map, records this information, and once a day will send all of those ‘pings’ back to the researchers. This means the researchers know, at the end of the day, where the lion was every four hours and how far it had moved.

With this information scientists can understand more about the behaviours of lions, the amount of land they need to thrive, the types of landscapes that are particularly attractive to them, and how they respond to things like the seasons or weather.

Share the following video that shows how scientists attach collars to lions. In this video, these collars are being attached to help conservationists with lion locations to avoid conflicts between lions and farmers, which can often lead to lions being hunted.

Footage From the Field: Tracking lions in Botswana - (youtube.com/watch?v=mdH077p0blc)

Find Out: Analysing lion data

Step 1

Now that we know how the researchers collect the data let’s see what it can tell us. Provide the students with the Student Worksheet. On the worksheet is a series of maps and the lion’s GPS track translated into coordinates across time. Work through the first example together. You can print the Poster version of the map to help demonstrate. Using the first set of grid coordinates, find this location on the map and draw a dot. Using a ruler, draw a line between the lion’s starting point and this dot.

Continue through all of the grid coordinates until you have mapped them all.

Numeracy extension: This map has been created to scale. Students can measure the distance between the individual points to calculate how far the lion has travelled.

Step 2

Now, divide the students into small groups to work on the second map together. This is a different lion at a different time, doing different things! Give the students time to work together, identify the different grid coordinates, and draw this out on their map.

Once students have completed this second map, ask them what was different about this lion and the first one. Can they guess what they think these two lions were doing?

Step 3

Now ask the students to complete the last map individually. Follow the grid coordinates and mark down the different movements.

Step 4

Explain to students that lions will change how they move in the landscape based on their stage in life. Here are some of the terms researchers use to describe lion movements:

Dispersal - when a young male lion leaves his pride and goes to look for new territory. They may need to travel a very long way over a number of years before they are ready to have their own pride.

Denning - when a mother lion gives birth to her cubs, she sets up a den. At first, she will stay very close by the den, but as the cubs get older, she will move further away to hunt. She will move her den site two or three times while the cubs are growing up.

Crecheing - when mothers of a pride have cubs around the same age and raise them together. The lionesses will take turns, with some hunting, while 1 or 2 stay behind with the cubs.

You also might hear these terms to describe a lion’s social situation.

Pride - when a group of lions live together, typically a group of sisters and aunts, with their cubs and 1 to 3 males. The females tend to stay together, and the males will change over time.

Coalition - a group of 2 or 3 males. This might be when young males are dispersing and go together with other lions from their pride or when old males are ousted from their pride. Coalitions tend to stay together throughout their lives.

Researchers usually collar only one lion in a pride or coalition. Because the lions stay in these groups, if they know where one is, they know where the group is.

Step 5

Let’s go back to Mufasa. This movie tells of Mufasa’s ‘expansive journey’. Which stage of a lion's life do you think we see in Mufasa? (Dispersal). Which one of these maps do you think shows a lion in dispersal? Looking at the other maps, can you identify what the lion was doing when this data was recorded?

Map 1 - Denning
Map 2 - Crecheing
Map 3 - Dispersal

Step 6

Ask your students, ‘What do you think the wildlife rangers in Zambia can do with this information?’ Once the students have shared their ideas, you can share the following actions with them as well.

Set up a halo of protection - if rangers know where a mother has her den, or that a new coalition has moved into an area they can sweep the area and remove snares, and set up extra patrols to watch for poachers.
Plan national parks - making sure there is enough habitat for healthy lion populations.

Early warning systems - so farmers know when there is a lion in the area and can move their livestock to safety to reduce human/lion interactions.

Take Action: Communicating the data

Step 1

Now we know how researchers collect the data, and how to interpret this data into useful information, it’s time for your students to put what they have learnt into practice. For this activity, students will pretend they are wildlife rangers and will write a proposal to improve the protection of the lions in their park. Ask students to choose one of the three maps in the student worksheet, and based on the information they discovered, create a plan to improve the protection of this lion and their group.

To write a proposal, we need to establish the 4 Ps: Problem, Proposal, Plan and Progress. Direct students to answer the questions on the worksheet to help them.

Step 2

Once students have established their 4 Ps, they can use this information to write a proposal. They should write 4 paragraphs:

Introduction - Establish the scenario and what this proposal is trying to solve (Problem)
Outline the objectives and what the end goal is (Proposal)
Describe how you will achieve this objective (Plan)
Conclusion - Describe what the successful outcome of this project will look like (Progress)

Depending on your cohort and the time available, students could work independently or in pairs to complete this task.

Step 2

You can use the rubric to assess student work, or you could invite students to assess the work of their peers using the Proposal Assessment Rubric (remembering to be kind, helpful, and specific when providing feedback).

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to respond to the following:

One thing that I learned about lions…
One thing that surprised me in this lesson…
One question I still have about tracking lions is…

Tracking Lions

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