A Kenyan Teen's Discovery
Having roamed the lands of present-day Kenya and Tanzania for thousands of years, the Maasai tribe had long coexisted with the region’s lion population. But now, the lion population is in sharp decline—and their next-door neighbors are a big reason why. Richard Turere is one of those neighbors, a 13-year-old inventor who lives among the Maasai near Nairobi National Park, which hosts many of the endangered lions of Kenya. Living in such proximity, some lions have begun to prey on the livestock owned by locals like Richard’s family. A struggle has emerged between the locals and the encroaching lions, resulting in the deaths of a highly threatened and endangered species (there are fewer than 2,000 lions remaining in Kenya). This article and its accompanying video, explore how young Richard devised an inventive way to save both livestock and lions from harm.
Articles
"Boy Scares off lions with flashy invention" CNN, February 26, 2013
"What happened to the boy who chased away the lions?" BBC, July 31, 2018