Cecil the lion’s legacy revealed by Oxford University team

The animal was being studied and tracked by the university's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) as part of a long-term study when he was killed by an American hunter in 2015.

The death of Cecil, who was a popular sight in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, home to the Ngweshla pride, led to donations of more than £750,000 to the WildCRU.

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Dr Andrew Loveridge, director of WildCRU’s Trans-Kalahari Predator Programme, said: "Cecil was one of the many lions whose lives we have studied in intimate detail over the last 20 years.

"His death was emotional and saddening for our research team but the global response surrounding his loss took us by surprise."

Cubs from the Ngweshla pride. Picture: Dr Andrew Loveridge

Following support received in the wake of Cecil’s death, the WildCRU's Trans-Kalahari Predator Programme has expanded its research on lion ecology and behaviour with 20 lions fitted with GPS trackers, boosted community projects to mitigate human-lion conflict, as well as supporting educational scholarships in Botswana and Oxford.

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Dr Moreangels Mbizah from Zimbabwe, successfully completed her doctorate in 2018 with support from the Cecil funding.

Since leaving Oxford Dr Mbizah has gone on to found an NGO (non-governmental organisation) in Zimbabwe to promote human-wildlife coexistence and socio-economic development of communities living next to wildlife areas.

Professor David Macdonald, WildCRU’s director, who founded the lion project with Dr Loveridge, added: "There are now 60 per cent more lions in our core study area than when we started, the food security of poor rural communities is improved, and remarkable young Zimbabweans are being trained to the highest international standards."