African Maasai Ditch Lion Killing as Proof of Manhood

in Animal News

Centuries before the world’s lion population was on the brink of extinction, young men of the Maasai tribe of Southern Kenya would try to woo the hearts of young Maasai girls by hunting and killing a lion. The age-old cultural tradition is a rite of passage into manhood and the only way to become a warrior. But, last weekend, young members of the tribe competed in the Maasai Olympics: an event designed to end the killing of lions by giving young men an alternative way to earn status in their society.

Link: Washington Post

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