The 'Asiatic Lion' (''Panthera leo persica''; also known as 'Indian Lion') is a subspecies of the
lion found today only in
India. They ranged once from the Mediterranean to India, covering most of
Southwest Asia where it was also known as the 'Persian Lion'.
The current wild population consists of around 300 restricted to the
Gir Forest in the state of
Gujarat,
India. There are plans to re-introduce some into the wild in
Palpur-Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in the neighboring Indian State of
Madhya Pradesh.
The historic distribution included the
Caucasus to
Yemen and from
Macedon to present-day
India through
Iran (Persia).
Status
The
Gir Forest National Park of western
India has about 359 lions (as of April 2006) which live in a 1,412 km² (558
square miles) sanctuary covered with scrub and open deciduous forest habitats. The population in 1907 consisted of only 13 lions and the
Nawab of
Junagadh gave them complete protection.
The
tiger, which is is the other large cat on the Indian subcontinent, is presently not found in the area occupied by the Lion.
The Gir forest is close to numerous human habitations and the lions sometimes prey on livestock. Some tribes have also been known to steal meat from lion kills. This has led to many conflicts between the local people, lions and the wildlife officials.
[1]
Inbreeding concerns
The wild population of more than 300 Asiatic Lions is thought to be derived from just 13 individuals and thus was widely thought to be highly inbred. Many studies have reported that the inbred populations could be susceptible to diseases, and their sperm were deformed leading to infertility. In earlier studies Stephen O'Brien, a geneticist, had suggested that ''"If you do a
DNA fingerprint, Asiatic lions actually look like
identical twins... because they descend from as few as a dozen individuals that was all left at the turn of the 20th century."''
[2] This makes them especially vulnerable to
diseases, and causes 70% to 80% of sperm to be deformed — a ratio that can lead to infertility when lions are further inbred in captivity.
A subsequent study suggested that the low genetic variability may have been a feature of the original population and not a result of inbreeding in recent times. They also show that the variability in immunotypes is close to that of the tiger population and that there are no spermatazoal abnormalities in the current population of Asiatic Lions.
[3][4] The results of the study have been questioned due the use of
RAPD techniques which are unsuitable for population genetics research.
[5]
The population figure of 13 Asiatic lions at the turn of 1900s is regarded as inaccurate and is believed to have been publicized to discourage hunting. Census data from that time indicates that the population was closer to 100.
[6] Hunting of lions was a popular
sport with the British
Colonialists and Indian
Royalty and all other lions in India had been exterminated by then.
Threats to the species
Even though the
Gir Forest is well protected, there are incidences of poaching for their claws. Lions are also poisoned for attacking livestock. Some of the other major threats include floods, fires and epidemics. Their restricted range makes them especially vulnerable.
Nearly 15,000 to 20,000 open wells dug by farmers in the area for irrigation have also acted as traps with many lions drowning. Suggestions for walls around the wells as well as the use of "Drilled
Tube wells" have been made.
Farmers on the periphery of the Gir Forest frequently use crude and illegal electrical fences by powering them with high voltage overhead power lines. These are usually intended to protect their crops from
Nilgai but lions and other wildlife are also killed.
The biggest threat faced by the Gir Forest is the presence of
Maldharis. These communities are vegetarian and do not indulge in poaching because they are basically pasturalists, with an average of 50 cattle (mainly "Gir Cow") per family. During the dry season, Maldharis from outside the sanctuary bring their cattle into the park in the guise of selling them and take them out after the monsoon season. The areas around Maldhari settlements, ''nesses'', are overgrazed. This habitat destruction by the cattle and the firewood requirements of the populace reduces the natural prey base and endangers the lions. The lions are in turn forced by the lack of natural prey to shift to killing cattle and are in turn targeted by the people.
Reintroduction
Asiatic Lion
Work has been going on over the past decade to establish the world's second completely removed population of the wild free ranging Asiatic Lions at the
Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in
Madhya Pradesh. Conservationists, Scientists all over the world and the Central Government of
India agree that this is necessary to save the last Asiatic lions from extinction due to epidemics and natural calamities in the near future. It is also very important to start a separate second population because not only it serves as a life insurance for the last surviving Asiatic Lions but it will also help to develop and maintain genetic diversity.
Fact-sheet
Compared to its African counterpart, the males of the Indian lion have a scantier mane and a characteristic
skin fold at the belly.
★ 'Weight:' Male 150-225 Kg; Female 100-150 Kg
[7]
★ 'Length (head and body):' Male 170-240 cm; Female 140-170 cm
★ 'Length (tail):' 70-105 cm
★ 'Shoulder height:' Male 90-110 cm; Female 80-90 cm
★ 'Sexual Maturity:' Male 5 years; Female 4 years
★ 'Mating season:' All year round
★ 'Gestation period:' 100-119 days
★ 'Number of young:' 1 to 6
★ 'Birth interval:' 18-26 months
★ 'Typical diet:' Deer, antelope, wild boar, buffalo
★ 'Lifespan:' 16-18 yrs
Asiatic Lions in Europe and Southwest Asia
Lions were once found in
Europe.
Aristotle and
Herodotus wrote that lions were found in the
Balkans. When King
Xerxes of
Persia advanced through
Macedon in 480 BC, several of his baggage
camels were killed by lions. Lions are believed to have died out within the borders of present-day
Greece around AD 80-100.
The European population is sometimes considered part of the Asiatic lion (''Panthera leo persica'') group, but others consider it a separate subspecies, the
European lion (''Panthera leo europaea'') or a last remnant of the
Cave lion (''Panthera leo spelaea'').
Lions were found in the Caucasus until the 10th century. This was the northernmost population of lions and the only place in the former
Soviet Union's territory that lions lived in historic times. These lions became extinct in
Armenia around the year
300 and in
Azerbaijan and southwest
Russia during the
10th century. The region was also inhabited by the
Caspian Tiger and the Persian leopard apart from
Asiatic Cheetahs (''Acinonyx jubatus venaticus'') introduced by Armenian princes for hunting. The last tiger was shot in 1932 near Prishib village in Talis, Azerbaijan Republic. The principal reasons for the disappearance of these cats was their extermination as predators. The prey for large cats in the region included the
wisent,
elk,
aurochs,
tarpan,
deer and other ungulates.
Lions remained widespread elsewhere until the mid-19th century when the advent of firearms led to its extinction over large areas. The last sighting of a live Asiatic Lion in
Iran was in 1941 (between
Shiraz and Jahrom,
Fars province). In 1944, the corpse of a lioness was found on the banks of
Karun river,
Khuzestan province,
Iran. There are no subsequent reliable reports from
Iran.
[8] By the late 19th century the lion had disappeared from
Turkey.
[9][10]
The Barbary Lion
In
1968, a study of the skulls of the
extinct Barbary (North African), extinct
Cape, Asiatic, and African lions showed that the same skull characteristics - the very narrow postorbital bar - existed in the Barbary and Asiatic lion skulls. This shows that there may have been a close relationship between the lions from Northernmost Africa and Asia. It is also believed that the South
European lion that became extinct around AD 80-100, could have represented the connecting link between the North African and Asiatic lions. It is believed that Barbary lions possessed the same belly fold (hidden under their manes) that are seen in the Asian lions today.
Asiatic Lion in Culture
★ Found famously on numerous
Flags and
Coat of Arms all across Asia and Europe, the Asiatic Lions also stand firm on the
National Emblem of India.
★
Narasimha ("man-lion") (also spelt as ''Narasingh'', ''Narasinga'') is described as an incarnation (
avatara) of
Vishnu within the
Puranic texts of
Hinduism and is worshiped as "Lion God" thus Indian or Asiatic Lions which were commonly found throughout most of India in ancient times are considered sacred by all
Hindus in India.
★
Singh is an
ancient Indian
vedic name meaning "
Lion" (Asiatic Lion), dating back over 2000 years to
ancient India. It was originally only used by
Rajputs a
Hindu Kshatriya or military
caste in India. After the birth of the
Khalsa brotherhood in 1699, the
Sikhs also adopted the name "Singh" due to the wishes of
Guru Gobind Singh. Along with millions of Hindu Rajputs today, it is also used by over 20 million
Sikhs worldwide
[11][12].
★ The
island nation of
Singapore (''Singapura'') derives its name from the
Malay words ''singa'' (lion) and ''pura'' (city), which in turn is from the
Tamil-
Sanskrit சிங்க ''singa'' सिंह and पुर புர .
[13] According to the
Malay Annals, this name was given by a 14th century
Sumatran Malay prince named
Sang Nila Utama, who, on alighting the island after a thunderstorm, spotted an auspicious beast on shore that his chief minister identified as a lion (Asiatic Lion).
[14] Recent studies of Singapore indicate that lions have never lived there, and the beast seen by Sang Nila Utama was likely a
tiger.
See also
★
Lion
★
Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden,
Junagadh
★
Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project
★
Reintroduction
★
in-situ conservation
★
Wildlife conservation
★
Ex-situ conservation
★
Extinction
★
National Emblem of India
★
Narasimha ("man-lion") (also spelt as ''Narasingh'', ''Narasinga'') is described as an incarnation (
avatara) of
Vishnu within the
Puranic texts of
Hinduism and is worshiped as "Lion God" thus Indian or Asiatic Lions which were commonly found throughout most of India in ancient times are considered sacred by all
Hindus in India.
★
Singh
Cited references
1. Saberwal, V. K., J. P. Gibbs, Ravi Chellam, and A. J. T. Johnsingh. "Lion-Human Conflict in the Gir Forest, India." Conservation Biology (June 1994), 501-507.
2. National Geographic feature
3. Shivaji,S. , D. Jayaprakash and Suresh B. Patil (1998) Assessment of inbreeding depression in big cats: Testosterone levels and semen analysis. Current science. 75(9):23-30 [1]
4. Central Zoo Authority of India (CZA), Government of India
5. "Indians Look At Their Big Cats' Genes", Science, Random Samples, Volume 278, Number 5339, Issue of 31 October 1997, 278: 807 (DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5339.807b) (in Random Samples),The American Association for the Advancement of Science
6. The Asiatic Lion Information Centre Accessed January 2007
7. Bristol Zoo information page on the Asiatic lion
8. Simba: The Life of the Lion, Guggisberg, C.A.W., , , Howard Timmins, Cape Town, 1961,
9. Hunting in Turkey, Ustay, A.H., , , BBA, Istanbul, 1990,
10. Asiatic Lion Information Centre. 2001 Past and present distribution of the lion in North Africa and Southwest Asia. Downloaded on 1 June 2006 from [2]
11. Dr. McCleod, Head of Sikh Studies, Department of South Asian Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
12. Khushwant Singh, ''A History of the Sikhs, Volume I''
13. Singapore
14. Early History
Other references
★ Database entry includes justification for why this subspecies is critically endangered
★
Endangered Animals of India and their conservation (In Tamil), S.M.Nair (English edition); Translated by O.Henry Francis, , , National Book Trust, 1999,
★ Kaushik, H. 2005. Wire fences death traps for big cats. Times of India, Thursday, October 27, 2005.
★
Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan, Nowell, K. and Jackson, P. (compilers and editors), , , IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, 1996,
★ Chellam, Ravi, and A. J. T. Johnsingh. "Management of Asiatic Lions in the Gir Forest, India" Symp. Zool. Soc. Lond. (1993), No. 65, 409-424.
External links
★
Asiatic Lion Information Centre (Includes an informative "News" section)
★
Asiatic Lion Protection Society (ALPS), Gujarat, India
★
Lion (Panthera leo) from “ARKive images of life on Earth” website]
★
Panthera leo (lion) from “Animal Diversity Web”]
★
"Vanishing Herds Foundation (VHF), India" comes to the rescue of Asiatic Lion
★
Asiatic Gir Gujarati lions in online video(3 videos)
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