Young Maasai boys are often given the responsibility of tending to the cattle, goats and sheep. During the daylight hours, the boys stay close to the livestock to ensure that hyenas and lions are not temped to take an animal. In the evening, the boys corral the animals in their family boma (circle of huts protected by a fence of thorny acacia branches). These animals represent the family income and herding is one step in the rise through the Maasai hierarchy from child to warrior to elder.