Jericho

Jericho was a male lion of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, born in June 2004 and followed for most of his life by Oxford University’s Hwange Lion Research Project, whose collar he wore. He is remembered as the partner of Cecil, the lion whose killing by a trophy hunter in 2015 caused worldwide outrage. Many reports called him Cecil’s brother, but the two were not related.

Jericho grew up in the Askari coalition, with his father Mpofu and his brothers Judah and Job, all given biblical names by the researchers. In June 2009 the Askaris fought Cecil and his brother; Cecil’s brother was killed, and Mpofu was mortally wounded. Years later both old rivals had fallen on hard times. Jericho had lost Judah and Job to trophy hunters, and Cecil had been driven from his pride. In 2013 the two former enemies formed a coalition and together held the Ngweshla pride and, from late 2014, the Somadada pride, with about six lionesses and as many as two dozen cubs, any of which might have been his.

When Cecil was killed in July 2015, the world feared Jericho would kill Cecil’s cubs. Instead, researchers reported that he stayed with the pride and, at least passively, protected them. A conservation group then falsely announced that Jericho too had been shot; his collar showed he was alive. He spent his last year in the Kennedy area of the park with a young lioness, and on 29 October 2016 researchers found his body under a bush, with no sign of gunshot, snare or fight. He had died of natural causes at about 12½, an old age for a wild male lion.