Like Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe, Cecil was named for the British businessman, politician, and mining tycoon Cecil Rhodes. In 2008, a second lion, believed to be Cecil’s brother, was spotted in Hwange National Park. When the two lions came across an established pride in 2009, they got into a fight that ended with Cecil’s brother being and both Cecil and the pride leader suffering from serious injuries. The previous leader was then by park rangers due to the wounds he received from Cecil. Cecil withdrew to a different area of the park, eventually forming his own pride with up to 22 members. In 2013, two juvenile male lions drove Cecil from the region and into the eastern part. As part of a scientific experiment that began in 1999, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford have been studying the lions in the park, including Cecil, whose movements have been monitored since 2008. 34 of the 62 lions that were tagged during the study. Seventy-two percent of adult male lions tagged inside the park.
