Painting Eyes on Cattle in Africa: A Unique Measure to Protect Livestock from Lion Attacks.
The cattle adorned with painted eyes on their rumps reside in Botswana, a landlocked country in southern Africa characterized by vast grasslands. The Okavango Delta in Botswana and other regions are home to diverse wildlife, including lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, African wild dogs, and other predators that inhabit national parks.
African farmer painting eyes on cattle.
According to last year’s census by the Botswana Statistics Agency, the number of livestock in the country has decreased from 2.5 million in 2011 to 1.7 million in 2015, many of which have fallen prey to predators.
When a predator spots a herd of cattle raised by farmers, it resembles seeing moving chunks of meat that can be easily pounced upon. After all, compared to wild animals, the escape ability of domesticated livestock is not very good.
Farmers are understandably unhappy when they see their livestock being hunted, leading them to seek ways to eliminate these predators. Some choose to shoot the predators with firearms, others resort to poisoning, and some even use spears to chase them away. Although hunting wildlife is illegal in Botswana, some people take the risk to protect their livestock.
To safeguard the interests of farmers and predators like lions, Neil Jordan, a researcher at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), came up with the idea of painting eyes on cattle rumps to deter predators.
Neil reportedly conceived this idea during a field trip when he observed a lion stalking a gazelle for nearly 30 minutes, only for it to abruptly abandon the hunt when the gazelle turned around and spotted the lion. Neil thought that perhaps the gazelle’s gaze had saved its life. Thus, he wondered, if one painted a pair of eyes on the rear of an animal, could it deter a lion without needing to look back?
To be honest, Neil himself was initially skeptical about this seemingly strange method, so in 2015, he opted to conduct a small-scale preliminary experiment on a farm at the edge of a wildlife reserve in northern Botswana.
First, he prepared a sample “eye”, then painted the sample and applied it to the cattle’s rumps. Simultaneously, he equipped the cattle with GPS collars to track their locations and easily determine if they were being hunted.
Next, he painted eyes on the rumps of 23 cattle, while 39 other cattle were left unpainted to serve as a control group.
Painting eyes on cattle can help deter wild predators.
The cattle were then released from the pen and called back after a search period based on GPS tracking. The results showed that not all cattle could return safely. Three of the unpainted cattle were killed by lions, while all the cattle with painted eyes returned home safely.
This outcome led researchers to believe that painting eyes on cattle could effectively help deter wild predators. Consequently, Neil raised $6,323 in 2016 (expected to be $4,510, exceeding projections by 30%) in the form of a trial fund and began formal testing.
He planned to widely paint eyes on cattle across local farms and gave the project a very tech-savvy name: i-cows.
The experiment lasted four years. Researchers painted eyes on the rumps of 683 cattle, crosses on the rumps of 543 cattle, and left the rumps of 835 other cattle unpainted for comparison. The experimental method remained the same but on a larger scale and for a longer duration, resulting in more reliable data.
This method is called “deterrent tracking.”
Over the four years, none of the cattle with painted eyes on their rumps were killed by wild predators; however, 4 cattle with crosses on their rumps and 15 unpainted cattle were lost. The results of this experiment are quite clear: painting eyes on rumps significantly contributes to “the safety of livestock.”
In reality, Africa’s wild predators, such as lions, cheetahs, or other hunting species, typically rely on ambush and surprise attacks to hunt prey. Lions can be more agile and occasionally rush directly at their prey. In contrast, cheetahs, which hunt alone, entirely employ ambush tactics and hide in the grass before stalking.
In most cases, predators depend on surprise attacks to increase their success rates. If spotted by prey, they are likely to abandon the hunt. Once seen, prey will flee immediately; even if predators can chase them, losing the best opportunity to attack greatly increases the chance of failure. Additionally, the hunting process requires significant physical energy; if they catch their prey, they can enjoy a hearty meal and replenish their strength. If they fail to catch prey, their efforts will be in vain. Thus, precision and efficiency in attacks are crucial for wild predators.
Painting eyes on cattle serves as a signal to potential predators that they have been detected, thereby preventing further attacks. This method is known as “deterrent tracking.” This is why painting eyes on cattle is beneficial—the gaze of the eyes informs lions that they may fail when attempting to hunt that prey.
This research has been published in the journal Nature Communications Biology.
